A Central Destination: Gans Creek Cross Country Course Brings National Spotlight to Columbia
10/14/2025 11:30:00 AM | Cross Country
Tucked within the rolling hills at the crossroads of the country lies one of the premier destinations in collegiate cross country: the Gans Creek Cross Country Course. What began as a shared vision and community collaboration has become one of the nation's most distinctive and accessible courses.
For years, Columbia's running community sought a venue that checked all the boxes — high caliber, accessible and equipped with quality infrastructure. The city needed a space where high school athletes could compete and where Mizzou Athletics could elevate its cross country program with a true home course.
That vision has since blossomed into a venue capable of hosting state, regional and national meets, including November's 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The course will be on national display again this weekend with Saturday's Pre-National Invitational.
The course traces its origins to 2010, when Brett Halter took over as Missouri's head track and field and cross country coach. Halter noticed that while several northern schools such as Indiana State, Wisconsin and Iowa boasted excellent cross country facilities, many were difficult for athletes nationwide to reach. Meets on the coasts required schools to travel thousands of miles, and the sport needed a central location to bring the nation together.
Around the same time, the city of Columbia received a 320-acre land donation off Highway 63 at the Discovery Parkway exit, now known as the Gans Creek Park area. Halter, aware of the donation, met with Columbia Parks and Recreation Director Mike Griggs to pitch his idea of creating a cross country course on the property.
"If we're going to build a venue that we're going to ask the entire country to converge on, it had to be the right space to showcase Columbia, Missouri," Halter said.
When Griggs told Halter a master plan had already been approved by the city council for the space, Halter began searching across Columbia for other options. Nothing, however, suited his goals for the course.
The vision wasn't abandoned, only paused. A few years later, Griggs returned to Halter and said he wanted to shift gears and build the course on the Gans Creek land — with Halter's input on its design.
"I just threw it out there. You've got to have two loops, you've got to fully excavate it to get the slopes right, and you've got to irrigate it," Halter said.
As the project moved forward, Halter saw his vision come to life.
"We had a clean slate that we were able to draw upon," Halter said. "We were also able to gather inspiration from the best components of courses that were already constructed in the United States, and they were able to add to them. The city of Columbia's parks and recreation department is an absolutely amazing group to work with; they're very much a 'can-do' organization, which I appreciate."
Construction began soon after plans were finalized. Crews used excavators to shape the land into the proper slopes and drainage systems. The result: a 500-meter starting chute, 30-foot-wide irrigated turf and competition loops of 2,000 and 3,000 meters, along with an athlete recovery barn and permanent finish line structure.
A defining feature of the course is its timing system. Kilometer markers, or "k-markers," are truss structures placed along the course to display live splits. As runners pass beneath, their times and team standings appear instantly on LED boards.
One of the industry's top timing specialists, Cody Branch of Ashland, Missouri, partnered with the city to build the system. Branch, who began working with Halter as a middle schooler timing the Show-Me State Games, later founded his own company, PrimeTime Timing.
In addition to serving athletes, Halter and his team designed the course with fans in mind. A raised seating section and accessible vantage points were incorporated to enhance the spectator experience.
"It's athlete-friendly, spectator-friendly and it's the most technologically advanced course in the world right now," Halter said.
The course officially opened Sept. 27, 2019, with the first Gans Creek Classic. It went on to host the 2021 Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championship and the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional. It will serve as the site for the NAIA National Championships in 2024, 2027 and 2030 — and its marquee event, the 2025 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship.
"It's really serving a greater good and not just for the University, but for the running community throughout the state of Missouri," Halter said. "It's fun to be able to have home meets and know that we're now becoming a destination in cross country."
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