Drake Cross Nation Wraps September Schedule at Gans Creek Classic

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Drake University males’s and girls’s cross nation traveled to Missouri to compete in a loaded discipline on the 2025 Gans Creek Classic. The Bulldogs picked up some high-level expertise towards a few of the high squads within the nation with a number of standout performers.

The Gans Creek Classic included three sections of each males’s and girls’s divisions: Black, Gold, and Open. The Bulldogs entrants all ran within the Black heats.

The Drake ladies’s group earned eighth place as a group and had the second-highest end amongst attending Missouri Valley Conference groups (Illinois State, sixth). Breanna Burak had one other astonishing effort with a 14th place time of 21:02.0. Anastasia Kirillov had one other high 20 end in seventeenth with a time of 21:03.9.

Freshman Austria Osina put forth one other strong outing with a mark of 21:52.9. The remaining Bulldog ladies completed as follows:

Kayci Martensen – 22:45.7

Anika Mohrhauser – 22:56.2

Ella Brown – 23:34.6

Amilia Condon – 23:55.2

Hannah Kilday – 24:22.3

“This was our first 6K of the season, and the women stepped up and raced tough,” Drake head coach Sam Read stated. “They put themselves in the mix early and held their ground against a competitive field and in hot conditions. Breanna and Anastasia gave us a strong one-two punch up front, and the pack behind them kept battling, which made the difference in placing us in the top 10 as a team. This should give our team a big momentum boost. It showed that the work we’ve been putting in is paying off, and if we keep building from here, we’ll be in a great position heading into championship season.”

As a gaggle, the Drake males completed 18th out of 26 eligible groups. Brenden Heitzig, a Missouri switch who returned to his earlier stomping grounds, earned the best end for the Bulldog males with a time of 24:31.4. Aidan Palmer, Drake’s solely different high 90 finisher, crossed the road in 24:44.1.

The remaining Bulldog males completed with these occasions:

John Moellers – 24:53.0

Daghyn True – 25:23.0

Aziz Jdai – 25:31.5

Xander Kwa – 25:47.7

Bowen Martin – 25:55.4

Carter Beasley – 26:16.6

“Today was about getting that first 8K of the season under our belts,” Read continued. “It’s a big adjustment from the early races, and I thought our guys accepted the challenge. Brenden set the pace for us up front, but I really liked how Aidan and John executed their races. Ultimately, this was a fitness check, and it showed where we’re at and where we need to go. We’ll keep building from here. With this experience, we’ll be sharper and better prepared when it counts later in the season.”

Drake cross nation will likely be again in motion on Saturday, Oct. 4 in Waverly, Iowa on the Dan Huston Invite.