Rock Hill, S.C. -- Western Carolina's cross country season closed on a high note on Friday at the 2024 NCAA Southeast Regionals as the Catamount men's team posted a 23rd-place team finish.
Drew Zink led the way for the Purple and Gold on the Winthrop Farm trail. Katherine Hopkins and Peyton Skoglund represented the women's team on the day with Hopkins taking a 147th individual finish. Both Zink and Hopkins move up WCU's all-time performance list for the Catamounts with Zink leaping 10 spots in the standings to tie for 18th. Hopkins' time of 23:11 is the 22nd-best 6k finish in Catamount history.
"Today was a great end to the cross-country season. We got a couple of all-time performances and finished well as a men's team even with having a DNF," said WCU head coach Jesse Norman. "Our team is young and I feel the future is bright for us to quickly move into the top 15 in the next few years."
Zink was followed in the Catamount scoring order by freshman transfer Logan Gullet, Lawson Mecom, John Davis, and Matthew Womack. WCU climbed as high as 22nd in the team scoring after the 6.4K split of Friday's 10K run thanks to Zink and Chase Thurber's 106th and 112th placements before the final stretch. Unfortunately, Thurber was unable to finish the race, though Gullet, Mecom, and Davis rose two, five, and eight placements, respectively, to secure the team's 23rd-place finish.
The Catamount's total of 702 points finished just behind fellow Southern Conference member UNCG which posted 697 and just ahead of 24th-place Elon at 701 on the day.
Individually, Drew Zink was the sole Catamount to earn a Top 100 finish, taking 90th on the day. Zink was one of only nine Southern Conference runners to finish in the top 100 in Rock Hill.
On the women's side, Hopkins posted a personal best 6k attempt with a 23:17 finish to take 147th. The top 150 finish is the best mark for the Catamount women's team at the regional race since Caroline Hilliard's 133rd finish in 2022. Peyton Skoglund posted a 24:05.5 mark to take 186th in the 6K.
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