Evansville, Ind. - The Carson-Newman Men's and Women's Cross
Country Teams competed Saturday morning at the 2009 NCAA Division
II Pre-National Invitational. The Lady Eagles finished eighth as a
team in the event.
"We saw some really strong teams, including two or three that are
nationally-ranked in each race, in what turned out to be a smaller
field of teams than we anticipated," said Carson-Newman Head Coach
Whitney Lee. "The course was pretty tough, the hardest we'll see
all year, and was a bit slower as a result of two heavy rains from
recent days."
C-N's women were led by freshman Brooke Earhart (Dickson, Tenn.)
with a 39th-place finish as she ran a 24:40.79 over the six
kilometer course. Medalist honors went to Tina Muir of Ferris State
University as she clocked in a time of 21:48.22.
The women's team championship went to the University of Tampa.
On the men's side, Eagle junior Jonathan Madden (Franklin, Tenn.)
ran a 28:49.00 to finish 67th overall. Harding University's Daniel
Kirwa won the 8K race with a 24:35.53 effort.
Stonehill College took home top team honors for the men's race.
Carson-Newman will next take the starting gun at the Belmont Abbey
Invitational on Saturday, October 3, at 9:00 a.m.
"We're looking forward to Belmont Abbey next week, where we always
seem to have a great team effort," concluded Lee. "We're still
working toward the ultimate goal of having our best races at the
South Atlantic Conference Championships in late October."