COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Wichita State cross country teams are set to race in the sixth annual Gans Creek Classic, hosted by Missouri, on Friday morning in Columbia.
 
The men race in the DI 8K at 8 a.m., followed by the women's DI 6K at 8:45 a.m., two Shockers in the men's open 8K at 9:30 a.m., and two in the women's open 6K at 10:15 a.m.
 
Live results will be available at pttiming.com.
 
Each of the Gans Creek Classic Division I races feature over 300 athletes from 36 teams, including in-state rivals Kansas and Kansas State, as well as American Athletic Conference foes Rice (men) and Tulsa (women).
 
The Gans Creek Classic presents the highest level of competition for the Shockers this regular season as the Shockers look to move up in the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Rankings.
 
The Wichita State men, ranked 14^th in the Midwest Region, will face off against three other regionally ranked teams, host Missouri (No. 8), Kansas (No. 10) and Illinois State (No. 13) as well as nationally-ranked Stanford (No. 10), and the Shocker women will race against Midwest No. 9, Tulsa, No. 13 Missouri and No. 15 South Dakota, in addition to four nationally ranked squads, Florida (No. 6), Stanford (No. 8), Tennessee (No. 9) and Ole Miss (No. 26).
 
The Gans Creek Classic is the first race for the Shockers since their home opener, the JK Gold Classic on Sept. 7, where the men claimed the team title without top runner Adrian Diaz Lopez.
 
Diaz Lopez is set for his first race in uniform since Nov. 11, 2022, as the redshirt-junior from Cazorla, Spain redshirted the 2023 cross country and 2024 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. He earned all-conference and all-region recognition during the 2022 cross country season and will make his season debut for the Shockers on Friday.
 
Miranda Dick is also scheduled to make her 2024 season debut after sitting out the first two meets of the season. Dick finished 16^th at the 2023 Gans Creek Classic to help the Shockers to a third-place team finish and went on to earn all-conference recognition at the 2023 AAC Championships.
 
This meet will be the Shockers' first 6K for the women and 8K for the men this season, the distance that will be contested at the AAC Championships on Nov. 2.