Women's 5-K Results (Silver Race)
Men's 8-K Results (Silver Race)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Evansville graduate student Melanie Helder (Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) finished second Saturday in the women's 5,000-meter silver race, and seven out of ten Purple Aces posted personal or season-best times, to pace the UE cross country teams at the Live In Lou Classic at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.

Helder, running in her first race as a Purple Ace, placed just five seconds behind individual champion Allison Sherman of Detroit Mercy with a 5-K time of 18:14.0.  It was just the second collegiate 5-K race for Helder, who ran mainly 6-K events during her time at Michigan State, but it was 35 seconds faster than her previous 5-K and ranks as the fastest time in the Missouri Valley Conference entering this weekend's action.

"Melanie had a solid debut for us," said UE Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Brooks LeCompte.  "Even though the second mile slowed substantially, the race picked back up in the third mile, and she finished strong."

On the women's side, Helder was one of three Purple Aces to post personal-best times, as juniors Emma Denbo (French Lick, Ind./Springs Valley) and Hannah Bryan (Evansville, Ind./Reitz) both raced to PR marks of 21:58.3 and 22:44.8, respectively. 
 
Meanwhile, on the men's side, four of the five competing Purple Aces posted personal-best times, led by sophomore Adam Oulgout (St. Paul, Minn./Central), who cut over 40 seconds off of his best collegiate 8-K time with a mark of 26:30.9 to place 50th out of 412 runners.  Fifth-year runner Carson Kline (Terre Haute, Ind./South) cut over 55 seconds off his personal-best time by clocking in with a time of 27:25.8, while freshman Joey Taylor (Grove City, Ohio/Central Crossing) ran over a minute and a half faster than his first collegiate 8-K with a time of 28:54.1.  Junior Luke Watts (Austin, Ind./Austin) also cut over 25 seconds off his personal-best time on Saturday.
 
"After the first meet, we are no longer looking at last season, but instead, we are looking at how we are progressing through the fall," said LeCompte.  "The men took a big step forward today, with most running massive PRs or season-best times.
 
"Overall, I am a little disappointed in the women's overall performance.  What I am seeing in training, they cannot seem to bring to the meet, and we need to learn how to come out and race instead of going through the motions.  We will have to overcome those mental barriers to show the true fruits of our labor."
 
As teams, Evansville placed 30th out of 52 teams on the women's side, and 38th out of 54 teams on the men's side in the silver division.  Evansville will take this week off to recover before hosting the 20th-Annual University of Evansville Invitational on Saturday, October 15 at Angel Mounds Cross Country Course in Evansville.