The school race season is now half over, with five weeks completed and another five weeks remaining, including the state meet. Two of the biggest weekends of racing of the season have just wrapped up, featuring some historic performances as well as many that indicate what teams and individuals are capable of and what's likely to come down the homestretch of the 2025 campaign.
We've taken a look at the historic boys performances at the Gans Creek Classic twilight elite race and recapped this weekend's Chile Pepper Festival in Arkansas. We'll look ahead to some upcoming meets and back at some others, including other races at last weekend's Gans Creek Classic. But first, let's set the stage a bit before last week's meet and be reminded that the Classic was the first of four big meets on the south side of Columbia over eight weeks.
Gans Creek Cross Country Course
In 2019, dignitaries cut the ribbon to open the world-class Gans Creek Cross Country Course, a joint project of the University of Missouri and the City of Columbia. That first Gans Creek Classic, Mizzou hosted ten colleges on a September Friday evening before thousands of Missouri High Schoolers raced the following Saturday morning. In the years since, many more colleges have competed at the Gans Creek Classic and Columbia College's Larry Young Invitational.
The Mizzou and the course have also hosted the 2021 SEC and 2022 NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Championship, while Columbia College and Gans Creek hosted the NAIA National Championship. The first of many to come. Last year's Classic saw schools from the University of Maine to San Diego, Stanford to North Florida make the trip to Columbia.
2025 NCAA DI National Championships
This year, Gans Creek will be in the global spotlight as it hosts the NCAA Division I Championship on Saturday, November 22. The meet brings together the best teams and athletes from around the world competing at the NCAA Division I level.
Many teams surveyed the course last year at the Classic, while a few did so at this year's season-opening MU XC Opener. Additionally, 87 NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA schools made the trip last weekend for this year's meet. Another 60 Division I schools will head to Missouri and compete at Gans Creek on Saturday, October 18, at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet, held annually at the site of the NCAA Championships course..
So, along with the Gans Creek Classic, Pre-Nationals, the MSHSAA High School State Meet, and the NCAA Division I National Championships, this is a historic year for the young course.
Friday-Saturday, September 25-25 Gans Creek Classic
Saturday, October 18 Pre-Nationals
Friday-Saturday, November 7-8 MSHSAA HS State Championships
Saturday, November 22, NCAA Division I National Championships
Six college races were held on Friday morning before high school competition on Friday night and Saturday.
For the second consecutive year, the high school competition featured Elite Division races on Friday night. Last year marked the inaugural year of the twilight races, and it was also the first time that out-of-state schools were permitted to participate in the Classic.
Neal Blackburn on the added Twilight Elite Races
Co-Meet Director and Rock Bridge Head Coach Neal Blackburn said that the idea behind the meet expansion and the Friday night twilight high school elite races was to create an atmosphere where, in late September, when temperatures and conditions can still be very warm, athletes and teams could race in situations that provided the best chance for quick performances. He noted the fast times at twilight meets around the country recently and how often they even ended up being faster than end-of-season marks.
Blackburn said, "I thought, if we really want to build this up, this course and this event, let's show people how fast kids can run on this course, not when the weather is one of those elements that's impacting those performances. We want to try to remove that
variable as much as possible, right?"
2024 Gans Creek Classic
Making the trip from out of state worked out well for Timnath (Colorado) coach Matt Miltenberg and his Lady Cubs squad in 2024. The former Yale runner and Rock Bridge assistant, whose brother is the coach at North Carolina, got an excellent performance from his #1 with sophomore Izzy Schimmelpfennig winning in 18:10.
She was the first of seven Timnath girls across the line in the top 45 as the team won with a score of 77 points, resulting in a 44-point victory. That performance helped boost the Fort Collins area team's confidence and was a massive step on their journey to the Colorado 4A state title, where Schimmelpfennig placed 3rd.
On the boys' side, after a defeat two weeks before to rival SLUH at the Forest Park XC Festival, Rockhurst toed the line under the lights at Gans Creek. Coach Michael Dierks' Hawklets produced a magical performance that solidified them as an exceptional team and kick-started one of, if not the best, seasons in state history.
Senior Henry Acorn exploded down the homestretch, out of the dark and across the finish first in 15:02 while fellow senior Andrew Davis was 4th in 15:14. Freshman Jack McGovern, who was on his way to one of the best freshman campaigns in state history, was 10th in 15:36. Senior Kai Somasgeran made it four in the top-13 in 15:37. The Hawklets scored 73 points to beat Rock Bridge's 107 total. The first edition of the twilight elite races was an undeniable success, with personal records and confidence earned left and right. 
2025 Gans Creek Classic
This year's Twilight Elite Boys race featured the powerful Bentonville, Arkansas, who placed 13th at NXN in 2023, a year before Rockhurst did in 2024. This year's Tigers are led by the former Southern Boone County High School standouts Brian and Sean Burns. Bentonville has just graduated a handful of standouts, but the Burns boys are a solid senior-sophomore 1-2 punch.
Other out-of-state teams competing in the race include Kansas' Olathe East and Olathe West, Leavenworth; Arkansas' Mountain Home, Shiloh Christian, and Providence Classical Christian; Alabama's Mountain Brook, Illinois' Murphysboro and Metro-East Lutheran, and Wisconsin's Waukee Northwest.
Top Show-Me State Boys entrants were: Liberty North, Rock Bridge, Kickapoo, Nixa, Rockhurst, Ray-Pec, Lee's Summit West, Park Hill South, Festus, and Jackson, and Webster Groves.
The Girls' race was loaded with standout individuals, including two-time Festival of Miles qualifier Gabbie Bishop of Providence Classical in Arkansas. Bishop sports PRs of 2:11, 4:42, and 10:07. Team-wise, it featured many of the state's best, and many standouts from outside the border.
Neal Blackburn on Twilight Elite Races and College Races
Like last year, some high school coaches, teams, athletes, and fans took advantage of the opportunity, making the trip to Columbia on Friday morning to watch the college races, another hope that Blackburn had noted.
"(with) NCAAs, this is a time when eyes are starting to come upon the course. ... the Classic's collegiate race is going to be on Friday morning. You're going to see the likes of schools that have never even stepped foot in Missouri before. You're going to see Stanford out there. You're going to see some of the powerhouse programs, so we thought, what would be really cool is most people aren't going to be able to get out to the course until later on that day, if they come down the night before (Friday), or they don't come in until Saturday morning. But if we have some of the best (high school) teams in Missouri, and we get a sprinkling from outside of the state (for the twilight race Friday night), that's the hope, and then build it up over time.
But wouldn't it be cool to be some of these in the Missouri schools, and have the opportunity to watch Stanford and others race, as well as some of the homegrown folks? Usually, our Missouri kids don't get an opportunity to see the top talent in the country race. So we thought that by creating an elite division Friday night, those teams (could) come in just a little bit earlier, get a chance to see a bunch of nationally ranked teams run (Friday morning), the hope is that some of those teams are wanting to stick around and watch some of the best talent in Missouri and some of our border states run that evening. So it's reciprocated for both the collegiate and high school levels.
Mizzou cross country coach Kyle Levermore on Gans Creek
The Tigers coach is a former Oregon and Arkansas runner and Georgetown coach, who is thrilled to have an asset like Gans Creek to train on, host meets at, and use as a recruiting tool. He said what makes it so special, along with its many great features, are the people who put in the work to make it happen and those who continue to work to host meets.
"I get to show up to, probably, the most beautiful cross country course I've ever seen, and I truly just get to coach. I don't have to do anything. I show up to a course that I know is completely well-maintained. It's mowed, it's rolled, the footing is perfect. And credit goes to the people at our athletic department at Mizzou and the City of Columbia."
"In terms of what makes it stand out, I think it's a course that, as a coach and or spectator, you can stay in the same place, or stay in a very small area and get to see a lot of what's going on. It's really well set up for people to be able to move around the course. So I think the spectator experience really makes it stand out."
2024 Gans Creek College Races Selected Photos
Mizzou's Joshua Allison (left) and Tyler Freiner race in the Division I race helping the Tigers place 4trh among 36 teams at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic.
Mizzou senior Blake Morris (back left) follow teammates Drew Rogers and Ryder James at 4.5k into the 8k race at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic. The Tigers placed 4th ahead of SEC foes Ole Miss and Florida in the 36-team field while Stanford dominated, scoring just 31 points. Tenneessee and Auburn edged Missouri totaling 163 and 167 points to the Tigers 180. Sophomore Ryder James led Mizzou with a medalist finish in 11th in 23.24. Former Saint Louis University standout and Ole Miss junior Toby Gillen (bottom right #6210) placed 6th in 23:13. Former Tiger William Sinclair of Illinois State (middle left) placed 14th helping the Redbirds to an 9th place finish.
Kentucky sophomore Edward Bird sprints to the finish and victory in the 2024 Gans Creek Classic Mens Division I Race (8k) in 23:07 for a victory over Stanford's Leo Young and Cole Sprout.
The Missouri, Missouri State, and Ole Miss women race off the start line after the starter's pistol kicked off the 6k Division I race at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic. Mizzou placed 10th in the field of 38 teams.
Auburn freshman Brenda Jepchirchir has a 30-meter lead already at 1,170-meters en route to racing to victory in her first collegiate race in the 2024 Gans Creek Classic Women's 6k in 19:50 for a 3.5-second win.
Ole Miss teammates and former Missouri prep All-State standouts Madison Hulsey (#5439), Franci Luna (#5443), and Adi Luna (far right), race in the sea of women at the 1200-meter mark at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic.
Oklahoma City's Evert Silva leads Kansas' Peter Walsdorf and Tanner Newkirk and Iowa Western's Geofrey Ronoh and Mohammed Kowa at the 3200-meter mark of the Men's Open 8k. Ronoh (behind Newkirk #6405) won in 23:25 with Silva taking 2nd in 23:30. Silva returned to Gans Creek for the NAIA Cross Country Championships on Friday, November 22, where he won dominated, winning the title in 23:14 and led Oklahoma City to a 7th place team finish.in freezing conditions and frigid winds.
Former Mizzou high jumper, Mizzou Journalism School alum, and recent ESPN SportsCenter anchor retiree John Anderson, who began teaching at the University in January of 2025, interviews 2024 Gans Creek Classic Division I Race winner Edward Bird of Kentucky, who, in great, cool conditions, won in an 8k course record of 23:07.
Kentucky sophomore Edward Bird waves to the crowd after his victory and interview with John Anderson at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic in an 8k course Record of 23:07.6.
Athletes and fans wait anxiously while forty seconds to go until the start show on the clock over the finish line before the the start of the Women's Division I 8K Race at the 2024 Gans Creek Classic.
