SPARTANSBURG, S.C.—The Carson Newman cross country 2012 campaign opened up Friday when both men's and women's teams competed in the Eye Opener.
Overall, the Carson Newman Women's team finished 9th and the Men's team finished 19th.
Hannah Reese (Brandon, Miss.) began her senior campaign with a bang, finishing the 5k in 20:29 in Spartanburg. Reese finished 4th among non-D1 runners and 2nd among SAC runners.
Carson-Newman head coach Whitney Lee said the results from the women were a little unexpected, but that was because the Eagles No. 3 runner, senior Brooke Earhart (Dickson, Tenn.) wasn't able to compete and an asthma setback knocked out No. 2 runner Meredith Nix (Walhalla, S.C.). In spite of those setbacks, Lee said it still turned out to be a good opening day for the women.
"Our men have had better days, and those usually come when we're in less humid conditions." Coach Lee said.
Senior Angel Soriano (Weatherford, Tex.) and Sophomore Luke Hall (Seymour, Tenn.) led the way for the men, finishing 1st and 2nd on the team with times of 29:38 and 30:21.
Junior Joey Nielson (Ringgold, Ga.) made a push to be C-N's number two runner, posting time of 31:14.
Jonathan Chastain (Knoxville, Tenn.) started his collegiate career this weekend with a solid performance. Lee said, "He's not fully adjusted to the longer race, but he showed some positives in the early part of his race and will certainly look to push Luke and Joey as we look toward the end of the season."
Both teams travel to Lenoir-Rhyne this weekend.
"It's an opportunity to race on what could be a very good course to get a personal record," Lee said. "We'll continue to develop some race tactics that will help the Eagles in future weeks."
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