PINEVILLE, Ky.—Strong showings from Pricah Jemeli (Eldorett, Kenya) and Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) led the Carson-Newman cross country team to fourth and 10th place finishes in the women and men's divisions at the 2015 South Atlantic Conference Championship Meet, hosted by Lincoln Memorial University, Saturday morning.
"Overall, it was a good day as both teams showed tremendous improvements from this time last year," coach Tony Parrilla said following the meet. "The women had their best day in a really long time and the men ran hard but had some bad luck. All in all, we got a lot better today."
Wingate took home the crown on the women's side by tallying a total of 37 points, while Queens came out on top of the men's standings with a total of 34 points.
The fourth place finish by the women marked their best tally since the 2011 SAC Championship Meet, when the team finished fourth overall, and the third top-five finish of the 2015 season.
The women garnered 145 points overall and the men finished with 223 total points.
Another strong showing from Jemeli paced a women's club that jumped five spots in the results from a year ago. The freshman completed the five-kilometer course with a time of 19:14.3 and finished ninth overall in the individual standings that featured 90 runners.
Hannah Green (Talbott, Tenn.) followed closely behind at the 23rd position, finishing with a 20:11.5 time, while Sarah Sharp (Lewis Center, Ohio) came in at the 20:47. 6 mark, which was good enough for 37th overall.
"We basically entered into the relevant category for the SAC today on the women's side," Parrilla said. "Some people didn't even have their best runs but still stepped up and made for an unbelievable day."
Once again, Dickie was the quickest runner for the men, finishing with a time of 26:25.6 in the eight-kilometer run. The two-time SAC runner of the week was the 12th fastest individual overall in a field that yielded 87 runners.
Dickie was on track for a potential top-seven finish before going off course with just a little over 300 meters left in the race.
"Lachlan [Dickie] was on track to break his personal record by about 20 seconds," Parrilla said. "He was in seventh place, pushing for sixth, before running off course on lap three. It was just an unfortunate way to end what would have been a solid run."
Freshman Clark Dixon (Tullahoma, Tenn.) came in with a 27:39.1 standing, good enough for 43rd overall, while Nick Guerra (Richardson, Texas) and Anthony Jackson (Manchester, Tenn) compiled top-50 times.
"It was basically Murphy's Law out there for the guys today," Parrilla added. "Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. We had some guys fall down because of the tough course. They all did a great job of battling, but it was just a tough day."
The Carson-Newman men completed the day with a total time of 2:18.36, while averaging 27:43.20 amongst the team individually. On the women's side, the Eagles ran a total time of 1:41.49 with an average of 20:23.
Following the meet, the league office named Jemeli and Dickie to the second team All-South Atlantic Conference cross country teams. Jemeli was also awarded to the All-Freshman team following her top-ten finish.
"As a team, we looked a lot better and I am extremely proud of both the men and women," Parrilla added. "We looked good, but the whole conference got a whole lot better. We look forward to building on what we did today for in the future."
The Eagles will conclude the 2015 season with the NCAA Southeastern Regional Meet on November 7th at Wingate University.
Women- Fourth Place (5K)
|
School |
Carson-Newman |
|
1) Wingate 57 |
9) Priscah Jemeli 19:14.3 |
|
2) Queens 64 |
23) Hannah Green 20:11.5 |
|
3) Anderson 74 |
37) Sarah Sharp 20:47.6 |
|
4) Carson-Newman 145 |
39) Sky McCarter 20:50.7 |
|
5) Coker 149 |
41) Sara Honaker 20:55.0 |
|
6) Lincoln Memorial 156 |
45) Ashlyn Page 21:08.4 |
|
7) Catawba 166 |
55) Aiyana Martino 21:34.7 |
|
8) Mars Hill 211 |
58) Bekah White 21:37.9 |
|
9) Lenoir-Rhyne 249 |
68) Jennifer Warren 22:08.2 |
|
10) Tusculum 271 |
78) Amber Farmer 22:56.0 |
|
11) Brevard 276 |
|
|
12) Newberry 334 |
|
Men- 10th Place (8K)
|
School |
Carson-Newmn |
|
1) Queens 34 |
12) Lachlan Dickie 26:25.6 |
|
2) Mars Hill 44 |
43) Clark Dixon 27:39.1 |
|
3) Anderson 151 |
55) Nick Guerra 28:02.1 |
|
4) Lincoln Memorial 159 |
59) Anthony Jackson 28:13.3 |
|
5) Wingate 166 |
61) Jose Parrilla 28:159 |
|
6) Catawba 174 |
70) Alec Bross 29:09.1 |
|
7) Coker 187 |
74) Joshua Marsh 29:49.8 |
|
8) Brevard 209 |
75) Kellan Sabol 29:58.0 |
|
9) Lenoir-Rhyne 209 |
80) Patrick Stump 31:36.2 |
|
10) Carson-Newman 223 |
86) Clay Childress 33:01.8 |
|
11) Tusculum 225 |
|
|
12) Newberry 297 |
|