COLUMBIA, Mo. (September 25, 2025) – The University of North Alabama cross country programs will compete alongside some of the nation's best in the Gans Creek Classic hosted by the University of Missouri on Friday, Sept. 26.
 
The men will compete in the Black Championship 8K race at 8:15 a.m. while the women compete in the Women's open 6K race at 12 p.m.
 
This marks the second consecutive season UNA has participated in the Gans Creek Classic.
The 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be hosted by the Tigers this season.
 
The Gans Creek cross country course utilizes the rolling mid-Missouri terrain to its advantage to provide challenging two- and three-kilometer loops. The two-kilometer loop includes rolling hills with sweeping, graded turns, while the three-kilometer has wide turns to a slight uphill 300 meter finish. The entire course is irrigated and graded for water drainage and is spectator friendly with a personal berm rising 12-15 feet to view the final 500 meters. The course width starts at 10 meters, while the starting line can host 42 teams at 550 meters wide.
 
This year's Gans Creek Classic will feature a large field for the Gans Creek Classic with 83 teams in the men's division and 81 in the women's division. With this many teams, Missouri has divided the races into three divisions: Gold, Black and Open.
 
The men's race will include 18 of the nation's top 30 teams in the country attending with the likes of No. 1 Iowa State, No. 4 BYU, No. 6 Virginia, No. 7 Stanford and No. 9 Wake Forest, among others.
 
On the women's side there will be 11 of the top-30 teams in the country in attendance as No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Alabama and No. 8 Northern Arizona are some notable names.
 
UNA's men will compete in the Black Championship against 28 other teams with some being Baylor, Ohio State, Nebraska and ASUN foe Central Arkansas. For the women, they compete in the Open portion of the race that has 20 teams with SEMO and Western Illinois to name a couple.
 
Last season, the women's team placed 36th, led by Gracie Mathews led the group with a 22:30.8 time. The men were led by Brian Bett who finished 12th with a time of 23:26.4 — setting a school record for men's 8K times. The men finished 27th last season in a competitive field.
 
Bett's time during the 2024 race became the the 14th-fastest ever recorded at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course, per Missouri Athletics.
 
This is the third meet of the season for the Lions. They began the season with their home meet in the UNA Invitational where both programs claimed an individual crown and the men took home the team trophy, as well.
 
This led to the team sweeping the ASUN weekly awards for both ASUN Runner and Freshman of the Week in the men's and women's category in Bett, Sandra Maiyo, Jack Gruber and Audrey Becker.
 
Graduate Assistant Noah Bonsall led the Lions at the Southern Showcase while head coach Connor Callahan welcomed his healthy newborn the week of the race. The men took home a 20th place finish while the women claimed 34th.
 
After the Gans Creek Classic, the Lions come back to the state of Alabama as they travel to Tuscaloosa to run in the Crimson Classic at Harry Pritchett Running Park on Friday, Oct. 17.
 
For more information on the Gans Creek Classic hosted by Missouri, click here.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.