Cross country clutches two school records
Senior Tyler Mattix named Athlete of the Week for his All-Region achievement in final meet of season
On Nov. 5, the men’s cross country team closed out its season with the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in North Carolina. The Bobcats placed 14th in the meet and finished seventh out of nine participating Peach Belt Conference teams.
Coming in first for GC and taking home the All-Region title was senior Tyler Mattix .
This was the first time a GC runner has earned this title. Mattix finished 17th overall and fourth among the PBC runners in the race.
“I was happy with the race. I could not have asked for a better race to go out with,” Mattix said.
Additionally, Mattix also set the school’s record time, running a 10k course in 32:41.
“I am extremely happy with Tyler Mattix because I do not believe that this has happened before,” Head Coach Joe Samprone said. “It was like frosting on the cake to have someone win All-Region.”
Coming in behind Mattix and finishing second for the Bobcats was senior Dan Horseman, who placed 62nd at the event with a time of 33:47. This was the fourth-best time in GC history.
“The team did really well. No one had a bad race,” Horseman said. “This season, as a team, we overcame lots of obstacles, setbacks and injuries. For a while it was questionable if the team would be solid, but everyone stepped up the last few races and it was a success.”
Crossing the finish line third for GC and taking a 78th place finish in the race was senior Rob Manning. Manning completed
pleted the course with a time of 34:12.
Manning’s classmate, senior Colin Conroy finished next in 87th place with a time of 34:37.
Coming in behind Conroy was sophomore Philip Laskey, taking 103rd place with a time of 35:12. Laskey.
“Everyone ran well, and overall I was very pleased,” Samprone said.
Two weeks ago the team also competed in the Peach Belt Conference Championships.
They finished fifth overall in the meet. Mattix and Horseman earned All-PBC Second Team Honors.
Mattix finished the course in 27:08 and placed ninth overall, while Horseman placed 14th overall with a time of 27:25. GC has not had two All-PBC runners since 2007.
Conroy finished the race 21st with a time of 27:47. Manning placed 30th with a time of 28:25. Laskey ran the 8k course in 28:42, which put him in 33rd place.
Now that the 2011 season is over, the team has started concentrating on next season. Samprone plans to begin recruiting runners because the team will be losing five graduates.
Tyler Mattix will not graduate until next December, but will not be running next season.
gcsunade | gcsunade.com- Senior Travis Knight (left) and sophomore Tucker Forbes helped the Bobcats reach 14th place finish at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships on Nov. 5 in North Carolina.
“As of right now I need to give my legs a break, but it is tough not to go out and run,” Mattix said. Running is therapeutic, and next year I guess I’m going to see what a semester without running is like.”“We had a great year with a lot of seniors, but now we’re having to pay for that because they’re all graduating,” Samprone said.
Posted by Brennan Meagher
on Nov 10 2011. Filed under Sports.
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