On Oct. 17, the UCA Women and Men teams participated in the Women’s 5868m (6K) and Men’s 8057m (8K) races in the annual Crimson Classic at Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Of the 23 teams in the Women’s division, UCA finished 13th overall with a total of 389 points.

This score was composed by Senior Madelynn Hill, scoring 21 points; Sophomore Abby Machesky scoring 71; Freshman Arizona Blankenship scoring 79; Sophomore Alexis Frick scoring 101 and Junior Kayli Meyers, scoring 113.

This put Meyers in one hundred thirty first place, Frick in one hundred eighteenth, Blankenship at eighty ninth, Machesky in eighty fifth and Hill in twenty second.

Following up, Freshman Elizabeth Browning with a score of 118, putting her in one hundred fortieth place; Brooklyn Nicholson with 124 points, placing her in one hundred forty eighth and Freshman Lydia Butler who did not place.

According to a UCA Sports article, Hill had almost set a new school XC record when she finished with a time of 20:35.4.

According to the XC record book, the current UCA record was set by Brooke Cassar on Nov. 15, 2013 at the NCAA South Central Regional in Waco, Texas, with a time of 20:32.5, making Hill 2.9 sec away from meeting the record.

While this does put Hill in third place for time in a Women’s 6K run in UCA history, she is also in second with a time of 20:35.1, 1.6 sec away from the UCA record.

This score was set at a previous Crimson Classic event on Oct. 13, 2023, where Sara Steimel, the previous third place holder, had earned her position with a time of 20:54.2.

Head coach of XC and Track and Field at UCA, Josey Weaver, expressed his pride with Hill.

“Madeline Hill narrowly missed our school record,” said Weaver, “She has been our lead runner all year. As she goes we go as a team.”

Each of the top five runners for the Men’s division scored under 100 points.

Of the 20 teams in the Men’s division, UCA finished 12th overall with a total of 312.

This score came from Senior Jack Digman, who had 39 points; Senior Mason Bickle, 52; Sophomore Trae Baker, 59; Sophomore Kyrin Bickford, 71 and Sophomore Logan Dingman, 91.

This put Digman in one hundred fifteenth place, Bickford in eighty fifth, Baker in sixty fourth, Bickle in fifty seventh and Dingman in forty third.

Following the top five was Senior Samuel Morales, who scored 109 points and was placed in one hundred thirty seventh; Sophomore William Hill, who scored 118 and placed one hundred forty seventh and Senior Beau Melacon, whose score could not be found but placed one hundred fifty eighth.

“Jack Dingman has also been our lead runner all year,” said Weaver, “Jack is a very gritty runner. He prefers to race shorter races, but has the ability to line up & compete tough in longer races.”

Overall, the team is exiting the Crimson Classic in a better position than when they left the Gans Creek meet three weeks ago.

Statistically speaking, the Men’s team scored 183 points less than their previous score of 495, and the Women’s team scored six fewer points than their previous score of 395.

This means the Women’s team has seen a roughly 1.5% increase in performance while the Men’s team has seen a roughly 37% increase.

This is on top of the fact that both teams’ highest scores in the top five were lower than their highest scores in the top five at the Gans Creek meet.

“We had a good tune up as we head into the ASUN XC Conference Championships in two weeks,” said Weaver, “We will be ready to race tough & together.”

The ASUN XC Conference Championships or the Atlantic Sun XC Championship is a tournament that consists of 12 different universities. 

According to the official ASUN website, the championship will be held in Jacksonville Fla. on Halloween with the Women’s race starting at 7:45 AM and the Men’s race starting at 8:15 AM.