Tulane Finishes Ninth & 13th at Joe Piane Invitational

Friday, September 29

Notre Dame, IN

10:15/11:45 a.m.

Tulane University

University of Notre Dame

Tulane Finishes Ninth & 13th at Joe Piane Invitational

Sep 29, 2023 | Cross Country

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Tulane men's and women's cross country teams battled a strong field at the Joe Piane – Notre Dame Invitational on Friday to finish ninth in the women's meet and 13th in the men's meet. The Green Wave had three runners land in the top 20 of their respective races including one top five finisher for the women's team.

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The Wave men's team finished with a total team score of 313 which ranked 13th in the 18-team field. Tulane landed in front of American Athletic Conference foe Wichita State as well as four other regionally ranked teams (Kansas, Youngstown State, Iowa, and Southern Utah).

"I was happy with our intent today," director of cross country/track and field Adrian Myers said. "But we ran out of some ether down the stretch. This is a race that you've got to be ready to spin the wheels on. We are putting pieces together and pleased about some aspects of our performance though far from content with the result. We will regroup, get back to work and continue to elevate."

In his first collegiate meet freshman Ilia Kunin led the way for Tulane in the Men's Blue 5 Mile race running a 23:55.4 to finish 18th overall among 155 runners. Jack Jennings posted another solid performance finishing 30th with a final time of 24:05.6. Landing 67th overall for the Wave was Ryan Adkins who ran a 24:35.8. Rounding out the top five runners for Tulane were Alan Deogracias III at 24:58.8 and Arturs Lapins at 25:17.8.

"Ilia ran exceptionally well for his first race in the blue and green," Myers said. "He and Jack ran very strong up front among the nations very elite. They demonstrated they can hang and bang with anyone. The men are all trending upwards but just shy of it all aligning at the moment. They'll be ready."

Competing with a "B" group the Tulane women's team finished with a total team score of 214 to land ninth out of 19 teams in the Women's Gold 5000m.

"We ran a designated 'B' group on the women's side to allow more training for much of our top seven but also give more race experience to a few developing athletes to help round out a highly competitive roster," Myers said. "Our aspirations are to run for an AAC title in October and a bid to the NCAA national championships."

Freshman Lily Bell continued her strong start to her Green Wave career as she ran a 17:08.2 to finish third in the meet. Tulane got another top 20 finish from Maddy Luscombe who finished 17th overall with a time of 17:55.1. Reese Ragland landed in the top 50 by running an 18:23.4 to cross the finish line 45th overall. Completing the top five runners for the Wave were Macy Turcotte in 61st (18:42.9) and Alex Sharpe at 94th overall (19:10.4)

"Lily ran very strong at the front of the race until the final kilometer after a solid couple weeks of training on her legs," said Myers. "This will help round her into form going into October. Maddy continues to get stronger ever week and ran very rough today. She's a gritty athlete!"

Up next, Tulane will head to College Station, Texas, to compete in the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M on Friday, October 13.

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