Over the weekend, the MUS cross-country team took quite a road trip.
First, the Owl runners accompanied the football team to Chattanooga where they cheered on the gridiron Owls to a 17-7 victory over the Baylor Red Raiders last Friday night.
From there, the cross-country squad drove back to Nashville on Saturday to compete in the Tennessee Classic, held at the Percy Warner Steeplechase Course, which is also the course that holds the State Championship race in early November. Coach Joe Tyler has taken many teams to the Classic and state meet before and knows the course well.
“Percy Warner is generally tougher to run than what we run at Shelby Farms,” commented Tyler. “There’s no shade, and you have to run through areas twice, unlike Shelby Farms.”
Despite the toughness of the course, the Owls were confident against the competition, containing 49 other teams and over 350 runners. And MUS ran well, ultimately finishing second overall, behind only Division II rival McCallie. This finish was a great accomplishment for the Owls since the Classic contains the largest number of opponents in one race that they will face all season.
“We expected to be in the top five before the race, and second place was a pleasant surprise,” said Coach Tyler, who had wondered how the Owls would run after a hard week of practice.
Three runners represented MUS in the top 20 individual finishers: seniors Donald McClure (7th) and Hunter Adams (11th), and sophomore Ken Haltom (16th).
The next challenge for the Owls will be back at Shelby Farms for the Frank Horton Invitational on October 1.