Men’s Cross Country 4th in SE Regional Champ.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Mars Hill placed fourth in the 2011 Southeast Regional Championship Meet on Saturday held at McAlpine Park. The Lions' Justin Gragg finished sixth overall in the 10K event.

Gragg finished the race in a time of 31:52.7. Kit Powell was second on the team and 20th overall with a time of 32:49.7.Eric Blackburn came in third on the team and 24th overall with a finish of 32:57.7. Josh Greenfield-Tuttle rounded out the top four Mars Hill runners in the meet. His time after placing 30th overall in the race was 33:04.

Gragg, Powell and Blackburn were named to the NCAA D-II Southeast All-Region Team. Gragg ran the third fastest 10K time in school history, while Powell ran the eighth fastest 10K time in Mars Hill history. The team outdistanced the nearest SAC school (Anderson) by 86 points after winning the conference meet by only two points over the Trojans.

Powell, Blackburn, Greenfield-Tuttle and Brady Adcock all ran personal best times on Saturday.

"You can't ask for any more than for both teams to perform at their very best on the biggest stage," head coach Mike Owens said. "Today, that is exactly what happened. They have been training daily since last May to be ready for this race, and the huge number of personal best times is a testimony to how hard they worked."

Queens won the team portion of the meet. Pardon Ndhlovu on UNC Pembroke won the 10K in a time of 30:55.5.