Lions Place Fourth in Southeast Regional

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- The Mars Hill men's cross country team placed fourth in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Meet, held Saturday morning at McAlpine Creek Park. Alex Griggs qualified for the NCAA Championships with a top-five finish.

The Lions finished with 117 points, with the top five MHC runners finishing 45th or better. Griggs finished fifth overall with a time of 32:00.6, making him eligible to compete in the NCAA National Championships on Nov. 17 in Joplin, Mo. Pardon Ndhlovu of UNC Pembroke took home the individual regional championship with a time of 31:19.2. Columbus State won the regional championship with 67 points. Over 160 runners from 26 schools participated in the event.

Griggs was the only South Atlantic Conference runner to qualify for the NCAA National Championship. The freshman previously placed second at the South Atlantic Conference Championship two weeks ago. He was the only freshman to make the national cut in the region.

Cesar Reyes placed 13th overall as the Lions next finisher. Reyes finished fourth among freshman runners with a 32:33.2.

Eric Blackburn (26th), Brady Adcock (28th) and Kiel Bollero (45th) rounded out Mars Hill's top five. Adcock and Blackburn finished just 1.3 seconds apart, while Bollero ran a time of 33:40. As a team, the Lions ran an average time of 32:51.58.

The fourth-place finish means Mars Hill narrowly missed earning an automatic-qualifying berth to the National Championships. The top three teams in the region will receive automatic-qualifying bids- Columbus State, King (Tenn.) and Mount Olive.