Samford’s Guillorel advances to NCAA Cross Country Championships
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In a season of firsts for Samford University cross country, Arsène Guillorel continued to raise the bar as he became the first ever Samford male cross country student-athlete to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championships after his performance at the NCAA South Regional meet on Friday, Nov. 13, at the Harry Pritchett Cross Country Course.
In the first 2-kilometors Guillorel paced himself at a clip of 5:59.3 which was right behind the race leader in Alabama's Antibahs Kosgei who led with a 5:59.1 split. The pair continued to pace the field to the 4-kilometer mark as each posted a 6:08.2 split with times 12:07.3 and 12:07.4 respectively.
In the final half of the race the duo continued to battle with Guillorel applying pressure to Kosgei but the Alabama runner gained separation in the final 2-kilometers to take the regionals with a time of 30:25.7 which was just mere seconds faster than Guillorel's second place time of 30:33.5.
Guillorel's next stop will be Louisville, Kentucky, to race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park which will be hosted by the University of Louisville on Nov. 21.
The Bulldogs also received standout performances from freshman Ben Bryant who tallied a 59th place finish with a time of 32:31.70 and senior Luke Weishaar who placed 79th with a time of 32:52.52.
Emma Garner stood out amongst the Samford women as the most consistent runner of the meet. The sophomore found herself 61st after the 2-kilometer mark with a split of 7:02.45 and made a move up to 59th overall at the 4-kilometer mar with a time of 14:22.48. However, Garner dropped 72nd overall in the final kilometer to finish with a time of 21:54.98.
Junior Ansley Bos capped off the women's team with a 123rd finish time of 22:48.76. Bos completed 4-kilometer split with a time 15:17.72 which he improved from 136th place to finish strong.
Allie Buchalski qualifies for NCAA Championships following fourth-place finish at NCAA Southeast Regionals; Paladin men fourth
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Furman Junior Allie Buchalski placed fourth at the 2015 NCAA Southeast Regional Championships Friday at Panorama Farms in Charlottesville, Va., earning her second-consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships. The Paladin men’s team also placed fourth and will learn on Saturday if it will receive one of the thirteen at-large bids to the national championship meet, which will be held Nov. 21 in Louisville, Ky.
Buchalski posted a time of 20:40.2 on the women’s 6K course, while Paladin junior Laura Miller finished 56th with a time of 22:24.0.
The Furman men scored 133 points to finish fourth. Louisville won the region championship with 77 points, followed by Virginia in second with 96 points, each earning one of the two Southeast Region automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Thirteen additional at-large bids will be announced on Saturday.
After the competing teams have been determined, 38 additional individuals per gender will be selected to compete at the NCAA Championships. From those teams not selected in the above process, the top four finishers at each regional are automatically selected, but must have finished within the top 25 of the region. Two additional athletes will be selected from the remainder of the national pool (and must have finished in the regional top 25) as at-large individuals.
Junior Tanner Hinkle led the Paladin men, placing 18th with a time of 29:56.8 on the 10K course. Sophomores Frank Lara and Aaron Templeton finished back-to-back in 21st (29:59.8) and 22nd (30:00.6) place, respectively, while junior Troy Reeder turned in a time of 30:20.8 for 29th place. Sophomore Austin Sprague completed the Furman scorers, crossing the line in 30:50.8 for 43rd place. Sophomore Josh Brickell finished 53rd with a time of 31:01.9, and junior Kyle Polman placed 106th at 31:59.1.
ETSU cross country races stiff competition at NCAA Regionals
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The ETSU cross country program ran against stiff competition at the NCAA South Regional Championships on Friday morning with the men coming in 16th while the women finished 26th.
In the early morning men’s race the Bucs were led by sophomore Skyler Winchester who finished in the top half of the race placing 60th overall out of 150 runners with a time of 32:32.28. Southern Conference Freshman of the Year James Garst was right behind Winchester with a time of 32:37.72 and in 65th place.
Sneaking into the top 100 was sophomore Carl Oberfeitinger who ran a time of 33:13.59 finishing 93rd. Rounding out the top five for ETSU was sophomore Haydn Metz-Borghetti and junior Simeon Roberts.
The Blue & Gold finished 16th out of 21 teams with a total score of 417 points.
The Bucs finished ahead of SoCon rival Chattanooga (20th) and just behind Samford who finished 15th. Florida State earned the NCAA South Regional Championship with a point total of 58 just beating out Mississippi by four points.
On the women's side ETSU was paced by junior Emily Williams who ran a time of 22:30.79 finishing 104th out of nearly 210 runners. Fellow junior Victoria Hutchens followed close behind in 135th place with a time of 22:57.46. The final three scorers of junior Sahara Fletcher and sophomores Sarah Zimmer and Macy Carrier were all within six seconds of each other.
Overall, the Bucs finished 26th overall ahead of SoCon counterpart Mercer who finished 29th. ETSU was behind their other SoCon counterpart Chattanooga who finished 12th. Vanderbilt took home the NCAA South Regional Championship totaling 65 total points.
Henderson earns All-Region Honors for UTC, leads women to 12th at South Regional
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior Teghan Henderson (Pickering, Ontario) finished 13th overall and led the women’s team to a 12th place finish in the NCAA South Region Championships Friday morning at the Harry Pritchett Race Park.
Henderson covered the 6-kilometer course in a time of 20:37.3. She was eighth after 2000 meters but fell back to 14th at the 4K mark. She would gain one spot over the final 2-kilometers. Sophomore Emily Drouin placed 65th overall with a time of 21:47.5.
Sophomore Maddison Melchionna finished 89th in a time of 22:18.1 out of 208 runners with sophomore Anna Kate Chance placing 121st at 22:47.7. Senior Rebecca Greenwall rounded out the scoring for the Mocs placing 140th with a time of 23:07.4.
Junior Paul Stuart led the Mocs in the men’s 10K race with a time of 32:45.5 followed by freshman John Payne in just his third race of the year with a time of 33:37.9. Freshmen Mark Britt and Richard Guiry along with junior Austin Ethridge rounded out the scoring runners for the Mocs.
The women were three points behind South Alabama and finished ahead of Southern Miss (14), Georgia Tech (17), Tennessee (19), Memphis (22) and fellow Southern Conference team Mercer (29). Vanderbilt took first with 65 points with Mississippi State second with 78 points and host Alabama was third with 135 points.
On the men’s side, the Mocs topped Memphis is the final standings and Mercer failed to score with just four runners after its fifth suffered an injury. Florida State wrapped up the title with 58 points, edging Mississippi with 62 points. Florida took third followed by Georgia and Auburn.
UNCG men’s cross country earns 26th-place finish at NCAA Southeast Regionals
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – UNCG’s men’s cross country team was led by Dylan Belles, who finished 75th overall at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet at Panorama Farms Friday afternoon. Belles clocked a 31:27.5 in the 10k race pacing UNCG to a 26th-place finish overall.
Dakarai Shipp was the second finisher for UNCG clocking a 32:59.5 while Patrick O'Grady was less than half a minute behind crossing the line in 33:18.8.
Junior David Guthrie placed 183rd overall with a time of 33:59.0 and William Sandin closed out the top-5 Spartan finishers with a 34:15.2.
Bryan Whyms finished in 35:08.7 and Luke Sumerford was the final UNCG member to finish in 37:06.7.
The Spartans edged Murray State by five points with a total of 479 while turning in a team average of 33:12.00.
Louisville placed first with 77 points and a team average of 29:49.02 while host Virginia Tech’s Thomas Curtin was the top finisher crossing the line in 29:07.9.