ROCK HILL, S.C.—Carson-Newman cross country runner Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) won South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Week honor for his first place finish in the Victor Ashe Fall Classic meet last weekend, the league announced Wednesday.
"Honestly going into in, I wasn't playing on winning," Dickie said. "I just wanted to help the team out and score as high as I could."
Dickie began his sophomore season with a time of 16:24:7 in the five-kilometer race, while averaging a 5:16.9 mile in the contest. Dickie finished 16 seconds ahead of the runner-up. His performance helped the Eagles to a third-place overall finish at the meet.
What started out as a slow pace was quickly erased as Dickie surged to the front of the pack with a little over a mile to go.
"The way I like to race is to go out there slower and eventually work my way up," Dickie said. "At about two miles is where I took the lead and just kept pushing from there."
The win marked Dickie's second first-place finish of his career and the award is the first Runner of the Week plaudit this season for the SAC.
The Victor Ashe Fall Classic featured 68 runners from six different schools across the region.
"It's very humbling to receive all of this attention," Dickie said following the award announcement. "It's the beginning of the season and it really doesn't matter what you do now. It's great to win this race and to get this award but honestly its all about November for me."
November marks the South Atlantic Conference Meet where Dickie and the rest of the Carson-Newman Eagles will compete for a program's first SAC championship.
The Knoxville, Tenn. native credits his team for the early season success and looks to them for constant motivation.
"Having all these new guys around you wanting to succeed and train hard is a big reason on where I am now," Dickie said. "I feed off that. I wouldn't be where am at right now without the team."
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