GREENVILLE, S.C.- The Carson-Newman cross country went up against stout competition in the Furman Invitational Saturday morning and ended up posting top 30 finishes for both the men and women's teams.
"We had a great meet and competed well," coach Tony Parrilla said following the meet. "Our objective was to see where we were as a team against stronger competition and I think we are positioning ourselves to have a great conference meet this year."
The Furman Invitational, which featured 35 programs from all across the NCAA and NAIA divisions, hosted two collegiate runs on the day. The women competed in the six-kilometer race and the men took part in the eight-kilometer run.
The women's side of the invitational were split into two categories- Division I and Divisions II, III, and NAIA.
The Carson-Newman women finished 14th among the programs competing in the second division. Priscah Jemeli (Eldoret, Kenya) finished 51st overall, scoring a time of 24:52.43. Hannah Green (Talbott, Tenn.) also finished just above the 50th mark, placing 54th with a time of 24:57.66.
The men from all across the different NCAA and NAIA divisions competed together in an eight-kilometer race and the Eagles home 25th overall.
Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) continued his strong run while posting a 48th overall finish out of a combined 296 runners with a time of 26:00.91. Freshman Jose Parrilla (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Nick Guerra (Richardson, Texas.) contributed two top-200 times while finishing 183rd and 193rd respectively.
"We had a lot of personal records and a lot of improvement from this point last year," Parrilla said.
Carson-Newman will be at it again next week as they compete in the Maryville Duel Meet next Saturday at Greene Farm.
-CN-