Cross Country places high at invitational

The GCSU cross-country teams traveled to Charleston, S.C., running the 30th Will Wilson Invitational at the Citidel on Saturday.

They returned to Milledgeville with the men’s team taking second and the women’s third in the non-Division I portion of the race.

The Lady Bobcats were led by freshman Allison Lones finishing the 5K course in 20:44, a personal record for her career at GCSU, and placed ninth for the women’s Division II.

Lones reached her time by slowing her pace at the beginning of the race as assistant coach Rich Dobson instructed, giving her more energy to use to finish strong.

Following only seconds behind Lones was junior Karissa Ekstrom, second on the squad, finishing in 21:05 and 15th overall. Junior Sarah Balkcom crossed the line in 21:29, narrowly missing the top-20 by one slot.

Freshman Andrea Byrnes was 26th in 21:55, and classmate Ashton Passin took 30th in 22:10.

Lenoir-Rhyne University took the team title among non-Division I squads, getting 57 points, beating SCAD by 31 and the Bobcats by 42. LRU’s Kate Griewisch won the individual title in 18:35.

With the success of the past few races, the Lady Bobcats look hopeful in having another successful season.

“I’m looking forward to a great rest of the season,” Lones said. “I think the team has great potential. We have an awesome team and everyone is very encouraging.”

The Bobcat men finished with many personal records and top 10 placements at the race.

Junior Daniel Horseman was fifth in the non-Division I runners, finishing the 8K course in 27:59, setting a personal best for the second-straight week and in his eight year cross-country career.

“I was pretty excited,” Horseman said. “I’ve been working hard and I guess the training is finally paying off.”

After an injury all of last year, Horseman changed his running techniques and style.

“I’ve been doing a lot of minimal running and using Vibram Five Fingers shoes,” Horseman said. “(Minimal running) teaches how to run barefoot which creates a more natural run.”

Taking sixth was junior Tyler Mattix crossing the line in 28:10. Freshman Philip Laskey placed eighth with a 28:17, a personal best in his three collegiate races. With a top-10 finish at 10th was freshman Tucker Forbes, running in 28:31, another personal best. Senior Tim Cary finished 12th in 28:36.

“This is definitely the strongest team we’ve had since I’ve been at GCSU,” Horseman said, “And we’ll probably do big things. It’s really looking like a good, solid season.”

SCAD took the team title among non-Division I squads, getting just 34 points, and narrowly edging the Bobcats by seven. SCAD’s Ignacio Fernadez won the individual race in 26:18.

The Bobcats are back in action Oct. 1 at the ASU Invitational, hosted by Augusta State University.

Posted by Emily McCurley on Oct 1 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.