LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Western Carolina cross country teams recorded multiple personal records as the Catamounts competed at the Live in Lou Invitational at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park on Saturday.
"I'm excited for how we did today," said head coach
Jesse Norman. "We got numerous PRs (personal records) and had a decent team result considering we were down a couple of people. I feel like this is a good place for us to be after our long training block."
Running in her first collegiate race at the 5K distance in the women's Blue Division , freshman
Katherine Hopkins finished in eighth place with a time of 18:11.60. Hopkins' time is tied for the 11
th-fastest in program history at the 5K distance. Classmate
Summerlynn Kingston finished in 40
th as she crossed the finish line in 18:47.30.
Riley McKinney finished in 69
th in a new personal best time of 19:12.80.
Sydney Runyan's new personal best time of 19:22.20 earned her an 84
th place finish.
Alesea Caldwell finished in 140
th with a finishing time of 19:44.70 followed by
Sara Klemm in 20:04.20 to finish in 178
th.
Lauren Esselborn posted a new personal best time of 20:36.80 to round out WCU's scoring seven. Additional Catamount finishers include
Amaya Hicks (21:01.30), and
Peyton Skoglund (21:03.50).
The women's team finished in sixth place in the team standings out of 32 teams with 383 student-athletes competing.
Competing in the men's 8K Blue Division race,
Andrew Edney led the men's team with a personal best time of 25:46.20. Edney finished the race in 63
rd place.
Will Mitchell placed 78
th, crossing the finish line in 25:58.20.
John Davis ran a personal best time of 26:07.10 to finish in 91
st followed by
Jonny Sherwood in 103
rd in a new personal best of 26:09.80.
Drew Zink finished two spots behind Sherwood with a personal best time of 26:10.20. In his first race at the 8K distance, freshman
Matthew Womack recorded a time of 26:47.70 to finish in 196
th while classmate
Chase Thurber finished in WCU's final scoring position in his first collegiate race, finishing in 229
th with a time of 27:04.10.
Other WCU finishers include
Nicholas Kiser (27:31.70), and
Knox Witherspoon (27:43.90). The men's team finished 11
th in the team standings out of 32 teams with 426 student-athletes competing.
After a weekend off, the Catamounts make the short trip to the Milliken Research Center in Spartanburg, S.C., for the Upstate Invitational on Oct. 14. The team will return here for the NCAA Southeast Regional meet in November.
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).
