LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY. – No. 6 West Texas A&M Men's Cross Country were back in action Saturday morning as they competed in the Louisville Classic. Freshman Meshack Keter won the event with a new PR as the Buffs scored 36 points to come out victorious.
 
WT tallied a new season-low in points with 36 as they won their second straight meet. All seven Buffs finished in the top 23 with four in the top 10. Rounding out the top five would be No. 7 Lee (47), North Central (159), Cumberlands (160), and Western Kentucky (212).
 
Through the first 2.1k of the race, West Texas A&M found themselves in second place with Keter also being in second. He was a tenth of a second behind Pierre Chauveau of Lee for first. At the 3.9k split, WT closed what was a 34-point gap between them and Lee down to four points. Keter jumped into the lead with two-tenths of a second ahead of second place. By the 6k split, the Buffs had taken the lead for the first time in the event as they were now six points ahead of Lee for first. The Eldoret, Kenya native in Keter had grown his lead to 15 seconds while the rest of the Buffs held strong pacing to continue to climb the leaderboard. Keter held his lead the rest of the way and comfortably won the meet by nine seconds (23:33.4). Multiple Buffs made great pushes in the final stretches as Merlijn Van der Velden jumped from 8th at the 6k split to finish 5th (23:59.0). Diego Uribe moved from 12th to 9th (24:08.5) while Luca Minale finished 11th (24:11.7) after being in 16th at the 6k. Tommaso Toppi was the final Buff to score points as he stayed steady in the final 2k to finish 10th (24:08.9) after being in 9th.
 
No. 6 West Texas A&M at Louisville Classic (8k)
October 3, 2026 | 9:00 a.m. | Louisville, Kentucky | Tom Sawyer State Park
 
Team Score: 1st of 24 teams (36 points)
 
1. Meshack Keter- 23:33.4
5. Merlijn Van der Velden- 23:59.0
9. Diego Uribe- 24:08.5
10. Tommaso Toppi- 24:08.5
11. Luca Minale- 24.11.7
13. Vivien Delin- 24:13.9
23. Miles Cox- 24:29.2
 
Buffalo Bits

• This was the second meet win of the year for the Buffs after also coming out victorious at the Texas Tech Open on September 18. 36 points was a new season-low mark for WT.
• Meshack Keter is the first Buff to win a meet since William Amponsah won the National Championship in 2024.
• Four different Buffs posted PR's including Meshack Keter, Merlijn Van der Velden, Diego Uribe, and Tommaso Toppi.
• Every Buff ran a new season-best time.
• Diego Uribe made his season-debut in the Maroon and White.  

 
Up Next
West Texas A&M will be back in action on Friday, October 16 as they compete in the Old Glory Gallop in Dallas, Texas.  
 
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