COLUMBIA, Mo. – In its first competition of the season in full race mode, Stanford swept the men’s and women’s team victories in commanding fashion at the Gans Creek Classic on Friday.
Led by sophomore Leo Young, the Stanford men placed four in the top eight to win decisively. The Cardinal scored 31 points to 163 for runner-up Tennessee.
Graduate student Zofia Dudek captured second in the women’s race while Stanford placed four in the top 10. The No. 10 Cardinal scored 44, to 91 for runner-up Tennessee.
Overall, these were strong and encouraging performances for the squads under sixth-year head coach J.J. Clark, Stanford’s Franklin P. Johnson Director of Track and Field and Cross Country.
This was the second competition of the season – after the Aug. 30 USF Invitational in San Francisco — but the first serious meet in preparation for the ultimate goal of the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Wisconsin.
The top Stanford men took the starting line for the first time this season. Of the 10 Stanford starters in the main race, three were freshmen and they competed alongside veterans Cole Sprout and Thomas Boyden, who are graduate students.
Leo Young broke from the nine-runner lead pack with 300 to go, but Kentucky’s Edward Bird caught him with 150 left and took the victory in 23:07.6 over the 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) course. Young was second in 23:08.9, Sprout third in 23:10.0, and Lex Young fifth in 23:11.2.
The top 15 broke the course record of 23:33.5 on the Gans Creek Recreation Area Cross Country Course, the site of the 2025 NCAA Championships. Five Cardinal were among them, placing 2-3-5-8-13, with Paul Bergeron finishing in the team No. 5 spot to lead the Stanford frosh, which included Patrick Koon in 17th and James Dargan, in his collegiate debut, in 18th. Freshman Josh Bell was 10th in the men’s open race.
Bergeron moved up 10 places over the final 3K and Dargan moved up seven spots over the final 4K. Koon went out with the leaders and was as high as fourth halfway through before dropping back.
“The guys executed the gameplan really well,” Stanford men’s coach Ricardo Santos said. “They raced controlled and really smart. Our freshmen did a great job of working their way up the field to close well.”
As a team, Stanford led from the first kilometer. At different points, Boyden and Lex Young led the race, with Boyden, who would finish eighth, holding a slight edge going into the final kilometer.
In the women’s 6K (3.73-mile)…
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