Scarr one of eight Bucs to set PR on Saturday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Oct. 2, 2021) – Led by another personal best from senior Matt Scarr (Wambersal, NSW, Australia), the ETSU men’s cross country team opened the final month of regular season competition at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic on Saturday morning from E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park. 

Scarr, who set a personal best two weeks ago in Alabama, shaved 27 seconds off that mark Saturday as he placed 24th in the 351-runner field with a time of 23:58.2. 

The Buccaneer leader was one of eight ETSU runners to set a PR in the 8K race.

Fellow senior Brayden Hamblen (Rock Falls, Ill.) also clocked in a personal best time of 24:08.7, placing 33rd overall. Like Scarr, Myles Stoots (Mobile, Ala.) also posted a personal record for the second straight meet as he recorded a mark of 24:47.6, good for 13 seconds coming off his best collegiate time.

As a team, ETSU finished 10th in the 36-team field with 372 points. The Bucs finished ahead of regionally ranked foes: Loyola (IL), New Orleans, MTSU, South Alabama and UNCG. Along with UNCG, the Bucs also bested SoCon rival Chattanooga.

Wisconsin, the 14th-ranked team nationally, won the team event with 26 points, while Grand Valley State (67 points) and Eastern Illinois (174 points) capped off the top three teams.

Individually, Grand Valley State’s Isaac Harding won the race, finishing with a top time of 23:16.7.

Joining the Buccaneer trio with personal bests included: Gavin Cooper (LaFollette, Tenn.), Josh Krafsur (Fort Collins, Colo.), William Hardig (Radford, Va.), Jordan Thomas (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Dylan Zeller (Hixson, Tenn.).

For the second straight time running on the course, Cooper shaved time off his mark as his time of 25:01.2 was 36 seconds faster than his result clocked in back in 2019. Krafsur took nearly a full minute off his previous best (25:16.5), while Hardig (25:41.2), Thomas (25:43.4) and Zeller (26:18.3) all set personal bests for the second straight meet.

The Bucs will make their final tune-up before the SoCon Championship as ETSU stays in state for the Golden Eagle Invitational, which will be held Friday, Oct. 15 in Cookeville.

For more information on ETSU men’s cross country, visit ETSUBucs.com.