Cross Country teams place ninth at regionals

The GCSU cross country teams wrapped up their 2010 campaigns as both teams raced to ninth place finishes at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships held Nov. 20 in Charlotte, N.C.The men’s team placed ninth out of 25 teams overall with five of their seven runners placing in the top 60 individually. As he has all year, junior Daniel Horseman led the way for the Bobcats, finishing 25th in the 10K race with a time of 32:51; that time was enough to easily best the previous school record by a full minute. Junior Tyler Mattix came in next for GCSU with a time of 33:46, placing him 45th.

Freshman Philip Laskey ran the race in 34:00 to place 50th. Meanwhile, juniors Colin Conroy and Rob Manning came in right behind each other as they placed 56th and 57th respectively with times of 34:10 and 34:11.

The Bobcats finished with 228 overall points for the ninth place mark, third among PBC schools. Host Queens University came away the winner with 36 overall points. Columbus State’s Meshack Koylaki was the individual winner with a time of 29:45.

The season proved to be a successful one for the men, as they finished in the top three in each of their first six races. In addition, Horseman set new school records in both the 8K and the 10K. Horseman’s strong season earned him a spot on the All-PBC team, the seventh men’s runner to do so in school history.

In the women’s portion, the Bobcats also took ninth out of 28 teams, while placing four of their six runners in the top 80 individually.

Much like Horseman for the men’s team, freshman Allison Lones continued to pace the women as she ran the 6K race in 24:00, breaking the school record and finishing 33rd. Junior Karissa Ekstrom finished right behind Lones at 35th with a 24:03 mark.

Senior Dani Destiche ran the course in 24:18 for a 41st place finish, while freshman Andrea Byrnes crossed the finish line in 25:19 for a 71st place mark. Freshman Ashton Passino placed 91st with a time of 25:43.

Overall, the Bobcats had 276 points, ninth overall and fifth among PBC schools. Queens took the victory, finishing with 40 points, while Lenoir Rhyne’s Kate Griewisch won the individual title, finishing in 20:55.

Like the men, the women placed in the top three in each of their first six races, and Lones set school records in both the 5K and 6K races. She also became the fifth women’s runner to make the All-PBC team in school history.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Dec 2 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.