Cullowhee, N.C. -- The Catamount men's cross-country squad led by superb efforts by Drew Zink and Chase Thurber posted a second-place finish at the 2024 Southern Conference championships in Greenville, S.C. The silver medal SoCon finish for the Catamounts is only the second in the 50+ year history of the cross-country program, with the last coming in 1993. The last top three finish for the Catamounts also involved head coach Jesse Norman, who was a member of the third-place 2002 WCU team. The 94 points earned by the men's team are their lowest total since the 74 earned in 2002.
"Over the moon about the men's finish. We executed the race plan and were tough the last lap to close it out," said head coach Jesse Norman. "To finish as high as we did is really exciting and a testament to the men's team buying into each other."
Drew Zink paced the way for the Catamounts for the fourth straight race, taking a ninth-place finish with a 25:05.4 mark. The senior hit the 4k split at 16th before climbing seven spots with a 6:21.3 6k-8k split to his eventual top ten finish. Only three seconds behind Zink was Chase Thurber, who came in at 23rd at his 2k split. The sophomore from Odessa, Florida pushed through the early placement climbing seven spots before the 4k mark, three before the 6k, and two to finish 11th. Rounding out the Catamount's top 20 finishes was freshman transfer Logan Gullet, who battled to a 25:37.4 finish to take 19th. The final Catamount scorers on the day were Lawson Mecom and John Davis, who finished 25th and 36th with 25:57.1 and 26:29.9 finishes respectively. Just behind Davis was Matthew Womack, who finished just one full second behind the senior Catamount with a 26:30.9 time and a 38th place finish. Peter Schihl and Noah Luke earned 27:31.2 and 28:12.3 finishes in the championship race.
The women's team was led by Katherine Hopkins for the fourth-straight competition as well, with the sophomore standout taking a 20th-place finish with a time of 17:51.9. Peyton Skoglund was the second-fastest Catamount finisher, completing her 5k in 18:55.9 and taking 40th on the day. Grace Lane was the final top 50 finisher for the Purple and Gold with her 19:06.5 mark. Hannah Kliner, Riley McKinney, Sara Klemm, Braelyn-Shae Wahy, and Alesea Caldwell all took placements 56-60 as Kliner and McKinney were the final Catamount scorers on the day. The pair earned 19:16.9 and 19:21.0 marks as the women's team took sixth place on the day, one spot ahead of their preseason expectation. Amaya Hicks was the final Catamount finisher as the entirety of the Purple and Gold women's competitors took top 70 finishes at the championship meet.
"On the women's side, that is about where we thought we'd finish," said coach Norman. "We'd need a great day to finish higher. We've just got to keep working on developing out the women's program."
Up Next for The Catamounts:
The Purple and Gold look to carry their momentum on to the NCAA Southeast Regionals next Friday, November 15 in Rock Hill, S.C. The Winthrop-hosted meet will see teams from across the southeast compete for the two automatic qualifying team spots as well as the four automatic qualifying individual spots.
