Sept. 30, 2011
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The men’s cross country team took fourth while the women’s team earned a 10th place finish at the Charlotte Invitational on Friday night at McAlpine Park. Patrick Barron led the way for the men’s runners while Mary Kownack paced the women.
On the men’s side of things, Barron led the way for the second-straight race this time with a seventh place finish in the field of 260. Barron crossed the line in 24:34.79 while D.J. McMillan followed just seconds later with a 16th place, 24:58.55 finish. Following right behind McMillan was Shawn Roberts who rounded out the top-three for the third-consecutive time this season this time clocking in in 17th place with a time of 24:58.67. Niall Longobardi took 35th (25:20.31) and Obiandu Igwe finished 43rd (25:30.85) to set the top-five runners.
Joe Fulton (47th place, 25:35.62), Alec Clifford (48th place, 25:42.94), Nat Estes (26:12.74), Cameron Reid (101st place, 26:43.92) and Doug Black (128th place, 27:02.90) rounded out the Yellow Jacket pack at the meet.
The men finished with an overall time of 2:05:23.17 averaging a pace of 25:04.64 during the course of the race.
The women’s team was led by Kownack who crossed the line in 18:19.61 with a 40th place finish in the field of 289 runners. Coming in second was Katie Vance, the first place finisher at the Clemson Invitational, who finished in 63rd place with a time 18:38.14 followed by Katie Townsend in 67th place in 18:40.35. Taking fourth was Megan Breitbach who crossed in 82nd place with a time of 18:52.51 while Laura Nelson rounded out the top-five with an 88th place finish and time of 19:01.19.
The rest of the Jacket runners to place at the meet included Kelly Meyer (100th place, 19:10.61), Diana Pressel (101st place, 19:10.86), Rachel Hammond (106th place, 19:17.99), Lauren Young (108th place, 19:19.72), Morgan Jackson (113th place, 19:23.32), Laura Seres (116th place, 19:24.90) and Elizabeth Lacksen (128th place, 19:35.46).
The women had a total team time of 1:33:31.80 averaging a time of 18:42.36 during the race and garnering 285 total points during the race.
Virginia Tech earned the team win on both the men’s and women’s sides while Wake Forest took third in both races as well. The second place men’s team was Liberty University while Furman took second on the women’s side.
The Jackets return to action at the Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala. the site of the 2011 NCAA South Regionals on October 15 at 8:30 in the morning.
