With roughly 300 participants in the Louisville Classic, there is more competition and more conference teams the Panthers will compete against.

With EIU coming from a unsatisfied overall sixth place at the Redbird Invite, the men are hoping to run better in the upcoming race.

“There’s a lot more teams here and more conference teams, so [we’re] just trying to stack up against them as best we can and just gauge where we are just four weeks out from the conference base,” sophomore Noah Schalliol said.

EIU’s men’s cross-country team will race in the gold race, the fastest race at the Louisville Classic. This race will have 300-400 runners competing.

Last year, many of the Panthers hit personal records and performed well individually at the Louisville Classic. The team finished in fifth place overall in the 2022 season.

“We have the depth to do all these big things we set out to do, I think team wise we can do well, we happen to be in the fast one which is nice for the team,” fifth-year Adam Swanson said.

Senior Richie Jacobo returns for the Louisville race after being injured for two weeks with an ankle injury.

“I’m really looking forward to running with Michael Atkins,” Jacobo said. “I know I was injured for the past two weeks but I’m still feeling pretty confident in my fitness.”

Sophomore Michael Atkins recorded his season best 8K time of 25:49.7 at the Louisville Classic in the 2022 season.

EIU takes on the Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. in Louisville, Kentucky.

Mackenzie Harrell can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.