Lions Place Fourth in Southeast Region

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- Mars Hill's men's cross country team placed fourth in the 2013 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships, held Saturday morning at McAlpine Creek Park.

Lion runners earned 110 points in the meet, narrowly missing out on an NCAA Championship berth by six points. Alex Griggs, Nathan Jones and Derek Gibson each placed among the top 25 runners in the race. Griggs and Jones were each named to the All-Region team. Mount Olive won the Southeast Region title with 53 points. King (Tenn.) and GRU Augusta also earned automatic-qualifying bids to the NCAA Championship.

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Griggs led Mars Hill with an eighth-place finish. The sophomore ran a time of 31:42 in the 10K race, the second-fastest 10K time in school-history.

Jones turned in the fastest time by any freshman runner in the Southeast Region. Jones ran a time of 32:21.3 to finish 18th-overall. Jones finished four seconds ahead of the second-fastest freshman runner in the region, Tanner Cook of King (Tenn.)

Derek Gibson placed third among Lion runners and 25th overall with a time of 32:45.2. Cesar Reyes finished just behind at 28th overall, finishing in 32:49. Senior Brady Adcock finished 33rd with a time of 33:01 in his final collegiate race.

The Southeast Regional Championship race concludes Mars Hill's season.