Western men take second, women tenth at Greater Louisville ClassicLouisville, Ky. – The Western Carolina men’s and women’s cross country teams ran in the Greater Louisville Classic with the men’s team finishing second for the third straight race and the women’s team taking tenth Saturday morning. Travis Alfaro finished in the top-five for the third straight meet with a fourth place finish after a time of 26:02.11, while Clay Howarth finished in the top-20 with 26:50.17. Jamie Bigby and JC Cornett also squeezed into the top-20, 18th and 19th place, following times of 26:51.20 and 26:51.62 respectively. Michael Cornwell was the final Catamount runner to score with a 33rd place finish after completing the 8k-course with a time of 27:33.91. Cooper Wurst, Perry Cabean, and Tommy Connell finished 36th, 37th and 38th with times of 27:42.25, 27:46.42 and 27:47.44 respectively. On the women’s side, Aleshia Reese finished in the top-25 with a time of 19:19.41 over the 5k-course. Michelle Provost took 27th with a time of 19:25.95, while Hayley Tomlinson was close behind in 31st place with a time of 19:30.18. Mackenzie Jensen completed the course in 66th place with a 20:17.43, and Rachel Johnson was the final Catamount runner whose score counted with a time of 20:34.75 good enough for 74th place. Lena Elliott finished with a time of 20:46.82 in 79th place, Jocelyn Keen crossed the finish line with a time of 21:18.34 in 98th place rounding out the WCU runners. WCU will run at the Blue Ridge Open in Boone, N.C. Friday, October 18 for its next meet.
Elon competes at Greater Louisville ClassicLOUISVILLE, KY. – Junior Luis Vargas collected a sixth-place finish out of 269 runners as he and a few members of the Elon cross country team competed at the prestigious Greater Louisville Classic on Saturday morning, Oct. 5. Senior Allyson Oram was the top female runner for the Phoenix, finishing 24th overall out of 288 competitors on the course at E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park.
Vargas ran a time of 24:38.44 at the meet while Ben Perron set a new personal-record in the 8K race with a time of 25:29.14 and a overall finish of 44th.
Oram finished the women’s 5K run with a time of 17:51.77, followed by Kaitlin Snapp with a mark of 18:17.38 and 57th overall. Tereza Novotna was the third finisher for the women after crossing the line at 18:28.80. Junior Haylee Dawe ran a time of 18:35.76 in her first meet of the season and was followed by freshman Shelby Cuddeback (19:10.09) and junior Jenny Gallagher (19:16.15).
Both programs will be back in action during the weekend of Oct. 18-19, as members of the team will travel to the Blue Ridge Open in Boone, N.C., on Friday, Oct 18. The following day, select members of the Phoenix women returns to the NCAA Pre-Nationals for the second straight year in Terra Haute, Ind.
Georgia Southern competes at BSC Panther InvitaionalHOOVER, Ala. – Georgia Southern freshman Ashton Lord posted a top-10 finish, her highest individual finish of the year, and three other Eagles placed in the top 20 at the BSC Panther Invitational Friday. Lord has led the Eagles in all four meets so far this year.
Graduate Sherril McFarlance recorded her best finish of the year in 13th and freshman Brooke Stanley took 16th. Katelyn Chancey, one of the five freshmen on the team, rounded out the top 20 for the Eagles.
Georgia Southern competes next at the Blue Ridge Open Friday, October 18th as Appalachian State will serve as the host for the race in Boone, N.C.