Wilmore, KY: The women’s and men’s cross-country team traveled to compete in the Asbury Invitational on Saturday, October 26th. The weather conditions changed to partly sunny with no rain and the temperature warmed before the end of the race.
A total of 78 women’s runners comprised the field for the women’s 4.43K (2.75 miles) race which was accidentally shortened from the planned 3.1 miles distance. 71 male runners tackled the 8K (5 mile) race. ALC women faced competitors from 10 different colleges and the men’s competitors faced the same number of teams. This race was really competitive, as the course offered several hills for our squads.
The Lady Eagles were led once more by their outstanding freshman Carlee Salyers, who crossed the line in 18:32, good enough for 5th place overall. She only trailed four runners from the eventual winning team, St. Mary-of-the-Woods.
Senior Rachel McCoy finished in 36th position (20:47) while junior Morgan Arthur was 42nd, with a time of 21:20. Completing the team’s top five were sophomore Brooke Vanover and freshman Cara Acey, with times of 21:35 and 21:40. Freshman Lauren Bryant (22:15), sophomore Hannah Bryant (22:26), junior Kristin McCoy (23:12), freshman Jasmine Parker (24:36), and sophomore Nicole McMurray (25:40) all gave good efforts as well. The women finished in fifth place on the day.
In the men’s race, sophomore Alex Lewis led the Eagles once again, finishing in the top ten with a 10th place time of 28:58. Freshman Jeremy Benjamin (32:46) was soon joined at the finish line by sophomore Austin Lee (34:17) and freshman Bryson Sargent (35:28). Due to several injuries, they did not have a team score in the meet.
The team will next compete in the RSC Conference Championship at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 9th. The start of the race is 10:30 am for the ladies and 11:30 am for the men.