Cross Country to Begin Season at the Mizzou XC Opener

COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Cross Country will kick off its 2023 season early Friday morning as the host of the Mizzou XC Opener at Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

The men’s 6k is slated to start promptly at 8:30 a.m., with the women’s 5k following shortly after at 9:00 a.m.

The Tigers will welcome the in-state opponents St. Louis and Missouri State to Columbia. Missouri will enter 27 athletes in the race with 12 women and 15 men.

New on the course are a trio of Missouri distance coaches Kyle Levermore, Paige Duca and Tanner Anderson.

Levermore will be bringing his respected coaching practices over to Missouri after several years helping out the Georgetown women’s and men’s department break countless records and finish three times in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships.

Duca, a former two-time All-American at Boston College, joined the program this summer after a one-year stint at Tennessee where she served as the recruiting coordinator for the cross country and distance programs.

Anderson, a two-time All-American himself, competed collegiately at Oregon and Washington in addition to serving as a graduate assistant with the Huskies.

Among the Tigers suiting up this season are returning junior Isabelle Christiansen and graduate Reilly Revord, both Chicago suburbs natives, will be taking their marks at the starting line this Friday.

Revord placed 18th in the race a season ago and earned a spot at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships where she completed the 6k course in 21:06.6

Christensen placed 11th in the 2022 opener and notched a personal best 6k time of 20:32.7 at the SEC Cross Country Championships last October.

For the Tiger men, 2022 All-SEC Freshmen Team member Drew Rogers will also be arriving back at the starting line Friday morning. The now sophomore is looking to build off his first-year campaign during which he ran the 10k at the Midwest Regional Championships in 30:58.50.

Blake Morris will be racing for the black and gold now in his fourth year. Warner placed 19th in the opener a season ago and trailed only Drew among returning Tigers in the regional with a time of 31:09.5.

Each of the Tigers’ respective men’s and women’s teams earned third in last year’s opener.

MEN
Angus Beer, Tyler Friener, Carson Helmer, Ryder James, Ethan Lee, Blake Morris, Trevor Peimann, Austin Poppelwell, Colby Revord, Drew Rogers, Andrew Smock, Declan Tunney, Luke Voelker, Jack Warner, Quentin Worley 

WOMEN
McKenna Butler, Isabelle Christensen, Kaia Downs, Nicole Louw, Ginger Murneiks , Mikayla Reed, McKenna Revord, Reilly Revord, Lydia Roller, Jenna Schwartz, Kelsey Schweizer, Anneken Viljoen 

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