The University of Missouri hosts 63 teams Friday morning at the 6th Gans Creek Classic-College competition. With the 2025 NCAA Division I Championships just around the corner, teams from around the country have made the trip to Columbia to race some excellent competition and see the world-class Gans Creek Course before it hosts the DI national meet.
Seven nationally ranked teams will race in the Show-Me State, including the #10 Stanford and #28 Ole Miss men and the #6 Florida, #8 Stanford, #9 Tennessee, #13 Lipscomb, and #26 Ole Miss women.
The college meet kicks off three competition sessions at this year's Gans Creek Classic. The high school meet opens Friday evening with the two varsity and two junior varsity Elite Twilight races before ten more varsity and JV races on Saturday.
Schedule
6:00 AM - Course Opens
7:50 AM - National Anthem
8:00 AM - Men's 8k Division I Race
8:45 AM - Women's 6K Division I Race
9:30 AM - Men's 8k Open Race
10:15 AM - Women's 6k Open Race
7:50 AM - National Anthem
8:00 AM - Men's 8k Division I Race
8:45 AM - Women's 6K Division I Race
9:30 AM - Men's 8k Open Race
10:15 AM - Women's 6k Open Race
Friday morning's college meet consists of men's and women's Division I races before open men's and women's races for NCAA Division II, III, and NAIA schools, as well as Division I athletes not in the Division I race, including redshirting athletes and those competing unattached.
The races will feature many former Missouri prep athletes who have raced at the state meet at Gans Creek in its 5-year history. Some of the top individuals in the country will toe the line at Gans Creek. Stanford's Lex and Leo Young are set to race. The twins are alums of Newbury Park High School in California, where they were two of the country's best preps and on the 2021 RLXC and 2022 NXN national title teams.
Ole Miss' Toby Gillen, formerly of Saint Louis University, Stanford's Juliette Whittaker, and Tulsa's Chloe Hershenow (Parkway West) are just a few of the many NCAA Nationals qualifiers and standouts competing.
The Mizzou men are led by Tyler Freiner and Trevor Peimann (Timberland HS), Ryder James, Drew Rogers, Declan Tunney, Blake Morris (Notre Dame-Cape Girardeau), and Josh Allison (Hillsboro). The Mizzou women will see Lafayette grad and an all-time Missouri High School great Natalie Barnard make her collegiate debut. She'll race alongside big sister Elissa Barnard, Rahel Broemmel, Oregon transfer Nicole Louw, Charlotte Cullen, McKenna Revord, and others.