Columbia, Mo.— Spire cross-country hit the course this afternoon at one of the top-rated events of the season the Gans Creek Classic hosted by the University of Missouri Tigers in Columbia.

The USM men's and women's team entered this morning with a new national ranking than the week previous. After a dominant few weeks, the Spire men have jumped nine spots in the NAIA rankings and now sit at No. 6. Continuing the tradition of excellence, the Spire women's team also jumped six spots in the charts and now take their place at No. 10 in the nation—true testaments to the level of excellence from head coach Alstin Benton and his squads.

In Columbia, the Spires made their presence known in a stacked field. The women's team brought home 13^th as a team at the highly competitive course. Serenity Desrosier Larson surprised no one by continuing her hot streak, coming in 3^rd overall out of 255 collegiate competitors with a final time of 21:21.0 in the 6k, going up against runners from top programs in the NAIA. This mark comes after two weeks of NAIA XCTF Central Performances of the Week and a KCAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week honor.

Teammate Ava Klaassen would be the next Spire to cross the finish line with a final time of 23:27.9 to stay within the top 95 finishers. Liv Lohf, Katie Cameron, and Shelby Lingle would round out the top five USM finishers. Lohf finished with a 23:26.6 mark while Cameron and Lingle would finish 23:37.7 and 23:46.1, respectively.

While the USM women started the afternoon off on a high note, the Spire men would certainly keep that going.

The USM men's squad impressively finished 2^nd overall out of 21 teams in the 8k race. Sophomore Derebe Carr fought to the finish coming in 7^th overall out of 257 athletes and a final time of 25:06.7.

Freshman Landon Englert would be the next Spire to cross the finish at a final mark of 25:32.9 and snagging 22^nd place overall. Senior duo Kevin Nava and Austin Howell would be hot on each other's heels with mere seconds separating the two. Nava would finish 34^th overall with a final mark of 25:52.8 and last week's KCAC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week, Howell, would finish 36^th overall with a 25:55.0 finish. Sophomore Mohamed Elgossy would complete the top five Spire men with a 26:01.5 mark and an official 46^th place finish.
 
Coming Up…

The crew will take their talents to Hays, Kansas to compete in the FHSU Tiger Open at Alex Francis Track Facility next Saturday, October, 10^th with the men's race kicking off at 9:15 a.m. and the women shortly to follow at 10 a.m.