ROCK HILL, S.C. – The South Atlantic Conference announced the cross-country runners of the week and Carson-Newman's Luke Greer (Northampton, United Kingdom) clinched the honor for meets competed in during the week of October 8th through October 14th.
"I'm extremely humbled to have won this award," Greer said. "There are a lot of really great runners in the SAC and to have been awarded this is very nice. Hopefully it gives me good confidence going into the rest of the season."
The senior distance runner started out the 2018 season with a bang at the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational on September 14th. He won the eight-kilometer race with a time of 25:37 despite being injured over the summer and only managing to fit in two weeks of training before the season started. Just a couple weeks following the race at LR the Eagles traveled to the Queens City Invitational on September 28thwhere Greer came in 7thplace at a time of 24:45. With that time he helped the men place 17thoverall defeating fellow conference teams Coker and Limestone.
The most recent competition that earned Greer the runner of the week honor was the Queens City Royals Challenge where he placed 5thout of 403 runners and around 50 institutions registered. Posting a time of 23:58 in the race, Greer set a new Carson-Newman record and personal record in the eight-kilometer race. With that finish he defeated runners from division I, II and III schools.
Greer wasn't the only one who had a successful day at the Royals Challenge as almost the entire men's team set personal bests during the race. He credits the improvement to new assistant coach Eric Phillips.
"I think with the introduction of coach Phillips, he's created a lot more accountability." Greer said. "We've been doing a lot of tempo work and race speed work, so we know exactly how fast we'll be running in the races. That prepares us really well for what's to come and how we should feel in the race, running tired and those kinds of things which is really important when we're running."
The taste of winning at the beginning of the season has Greer hungry for more as he moves forward with a goal of winning Conference and making an appearance at Nationals.
"Winning those next two races and hopefully making Nationals would be a great achievement for me and is definitely something I'm striving for this season." Greer said.
Up next for the Eagles is the beginning of championship season with the SAC Championship on November 3rdin Spartanburg, S.C.
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