SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Western Carolina cross country teams recorded several personal best performances on both the men's and women's sides as the Catamounts competed against a strong field of competitors at the Upstate Invitational on Saturday morning.
For the second straight meet,
Andrew Edney led the men's team as he finished with an 8K personal best time of 25:38.90 after crossing the finish line in 49th place.
Drew Zink followed ten places behind and also posted a new personal best time of 25:48.30.
Jonny Sherwood crossed the finish line in 63rd thanks to a personal best time of 25:49.00.
John Davis 83rd overall with a time of 26:13.90, followed by
Will Mitchell in 89th at 26:16.40.
Chase Thurber posted a personal best time of 26:26.80 for a 106th-place finish followed by
Grant Parham in 126th with a time of 26:51.70 to close out WCU's scoring positions.
Additional men's finishers include
Nicholas Kiser at 26:56.40,
Matthew Womack completed the race in 27:08.40 while Lawson Mecon recorded a finishing time of 27:13.10.
Knox Witherspoon turned in a time of 27:45.90, and
Peter Schihl finished in 28:02.90.
The men's team finished 11th out of 27 teams with 268 student-athletes competing.
On the women's side, freshman
Katherine Hopkins continued her strong rookie season, finishing in 26th place with a new 5K personal best time of 17:58.30. Hopkins' time is the eighth-fastest in Catamount women's program history.
Riley McKinney followed in 62nd with a personal best time of 18:47.30.
Grace Lane recorded a personal best time of 19:00.40 in her first collegiate race at the 5K distance.
Sydney Runyan finished with a personal best time of 19:14.90 in 94th overall.
Alesea Caldwell completed the race with a time of 19:29.90 in 113th, followed by
Sara Klemm in 118th at 19:33.80 and a personal best performance of 19:35.80 by
Peyton Skoglund in 120th to round out the scoring positions.
Other Catamount finishers include
Amaya Hicks with a personal best 19:48.10,
Lauren Esselborn with a personal best time of 19:48.90,
Madelynn Duffield at 19:58.40, and
Landey Green in 19:58.90. The women's team finished 14th out of 32 scored teams with 279 competitors.
The Catamounts run for a Southern Conference championship on Oct. 27 in Kernersville N.C.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount cross country and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports) and Twitter (@catamounts, @catamountxctf).
