A Day of Personal Bests Catapults Lions Into National Championships
MONTEVALLO, ALA. – Senior Nathan Jones collected an overall fourth-place finish and the Mars Hill men’s cross country team turned in a runner-up performance at the 2016 Division II Southeast Regionals on Saturday morning.
MONTEVALLO, ALA. – Senior Nathan Jones collected an overall fourth-place finish and the Mars Hill men's cross country team turned in a runner-up performance at the 2016 Division II Southeast Regionals on Saturday morning. Jones' time of 30:32.25 was first in the South Atlantic Conference and the second-fastest time in Mars Hill history.
Teammates Garrett Farrimond and Brandon Beard tallied 15th and 16th place finishes, respectively, out of the 169 participant field. Noah Allison ran a time of 31:30.12 to cross the line just behind Beard in 19th position. Gil Gilreath came in a respectable 28th place. Nick Resor placed in 42nd and Tucker Dandenault finished in 114th following the first 10k race of his career. All seven runners for the Lions were able to set personal records on the day.
"It was a tight race from the start, said coach Mike Owens. The first two loops were completely flat and they didn't hit the hills until the last two loops. Once there the race began to open up and our men finished strong to earn second place overall and a return trip to the National Championships".
Mount Olive collected the first-place finish in the team category, while the Trojans' Adam Craig took home the top individual effort. Mars Hill's second-place finish of 77 points was 24 points better than SAC-rival Queens, while the average team time of 31:20 was the best in school history.
The team will now turn its attention to the NCAA Division II National Championships to be held on Saturday, November 19.
