LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Davidson senior Ryan Hopkins became the first Wildcat runner to complete an 8K cross country course in under 24 minutes, placing third in 23:56.28 to lead the Wildcats to a seventh-place finish out of 29 teams at the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic in E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.

Hopkins was under 10 seconds off the pace of race-winner Tyler Byrne of Louisville, whocrossed the line in 23:47.12.

Hopkins broke his own 8K record of 24:06.54, which he set two weeks ago at Clemson.

Junior Demetrios Pagonis also ran one of the fastest times in Davidson history, finishing 13th in 24:19.19. Senior Ian Tupper was the 'Cats third finisher in 25:07.98, while juniors Vincent Weir (68th place, 25:13.42) and Wes Reynolds (80th, 25:19.43) rounded out the 'Cats top-five scorers in the 240-runner field.

Sophomore Andrew Lantz (88th, 25:25.33) and freshman Chase Whitner (25:26.87) were Davidson's sixth and seventh finishers.

Purdue won the race with 113 points, and was followed by No. 27 Louisville (150), Albany (156), Western Kentucky (168) and Southern Illinois (208) in the top five. Marquette (218) edged Davidson (224) for sixth place, while Kentucky trailed Davidson in eighth place with 233 points.

Davidson entered the race ranked ninth in the Southeast region by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, and bested Southern Conference rival Chattanooga (12th place, 377), a team ranked fifth in the South region. The Wildcats also finished ahead of Alabama and Ole Miss, teams ranked fourth and eighth in the South Region.

Chattanooga men 12th at Greater Louisville Classic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Chris Berry led the Mocs to a 12th place finish at the Greater Louisville Classic Saturday at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.

Berry was followed by sophomore Lucas Cotter who was 28th overall with a time of 24:38.49. Sophomores Mark Cole and Nathan Wanuch finished 77th and 78th out the 240 runners. Cole finished with a time of 25:18.26 and Wanuch was right behind with a time of 25:18.46.

The Mocs are without junior Joshue Vasquez who is nursing an injury and may miss the remainder of the season.

Twenty nine teams competed in Saturday's event with Purdue claiming the overall victory with 113 points. Host Louisville placed second with 150 points followed by University of Albany in third with 156 points and Western Kentucky's 168 points for fourth.

Louisville's Tyler Byrne paced the field with a time of 23:47.12 with Middle Tennessee's Justus David second with a time of 23:49.04. Southern Conference runner Ryan Hopkins of Davidson placed third overall with a time of 23:56.28.

The Mocs finished ahead of Middle Tennessee (13th), Ole Miss (16th) and Alabama (19th).

Samford women 19th, men 28th at Greater Louisville Classic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --The Samford cross country team competed at the Greater Louisville Classic Saturday, with the men running an 8k and the women running a 5k. Multiple individuals came through with strong performances, leading to some quality finishes for both teams.

The women's team competed in the gold heat of the 5k, finishing 19th out of the 30 teams competing. Lauren D'Alessio placed fifth overall, running 17:06.47 on a tough 5K course. With nearly 300 competitors competing in the gold race, Benson earned an impressive finish at 90th with a mark of 18:24.34. Treadway finished near the middle of the pack, crossing the line 131st in 18:42.21 with Frances Bernard close behind in 137th (18:44.59). The next four Bulldogs to finish were Deanna Zidar (150th, 18:47.26), Lillie Jackson (182nd, 19:01.86), Alli Keithan (218th, 19:31.38) and Brooke Smith (243rd, 20:04.42).

Layton Dorsett was again the men's top finisher, finishing 59th in the blue heat of the men's 8k with a mark of 26:05.74. Ramsey White was the next Bulldog across the line, placing 125th (26:38.61). Henry Stevens-Carty followed in 165th (26:58.32) with James Graham (181st, 27:09.06) and Nicholas Cork (249th, 28:27.91) rounding out the men's team. As a team, Samford finished 28th.