GREENVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman senior runner Luke Greer (Northampton, United Kingdom) came in first-place at the Tusculum Open on Friday evening, with a time of 15:38 a new personal best in a five-kilometer race.

"Really cool, that Luke Greer got the overall event win tonight," Carson-Newman cross country coach Tyler Stepp said. "We didn't really know what to expect, we knew we had some pretty quick guys. Luke came out and blew his personal record on a pretty good group of guys. So we are pretty excited about where that is going to go."

Both the men's and women's cross country teams finished the meet in third place. In front of the men's team were fellow South Atlantic Conference opponents Tusculum and Lincoln Memorial. While the women's team finished behind Lincoln Memorial and North Greenville.

"Really happy that both squads finished third tonight." Stepp said, "We have a lot to gain here over the next couple of weeks and we just lost to those other teams by a couple of points."

The men's team had a strong showing from top to bottom on the roster. Behind, Greer's top-place finish, Carson-Newman freshman runner Kelvin Ronoh finished in third place with a time of 16:05. Sophomore runner Amos Korir (Eldoret, Kenya) finished just outside the top-ten with an 11^th place finish.

"Kelvin Ronoh, stepped up and finished third in the event, to have two guys finish in the top-three of an event is very special." Stepp said, "The second half of our top-five were close and I think that we will be where we need to be by conference time, but certainly very happy overall with the performance today."

Senior Anthony Jackson (Manchester, Tenn.) ran a time of 18:20, which was good enough for a 30^th place finish. Cameron McKinley, Jared Eddy and Jeremiah McCarter all freshmen finished inside the top-40 for the Eagles.

On the women's side of the trail the Eagles had three women place inside the top-ten. Junior Bekah White (Rockford, Tenn.) led the way with a sixth place finish in the five-kilometer race. Freshman Lindsey Williams came in ninth place and Priscah Jemeli (Eldoret, Kenya) finished right behind Williams in tenth place.

"It was about what I expected on the women's side this evening," Stepp said. "We have seven girls that can finish first or seventh, and that's a good thing and not a bad thing. We have a really solid group that runs well together. Really proud of what they did. Bekah White, ran a great race today. Having three girls finish inside of the top-ten against a competitive field was really good to see."

Skye McCarter (Sevierville, Tenn.) finished just outside the top-ten with a 14^th place finish. Senior Sarah Sharp (Lewis Center, Ohio) ran a 22:47, which was good enough for 21^st place. Fellow senior Jennifer Warren (Piney Flats, Tenn.) finished the meet in 37^th place, while Ashlyn Page (Knoxville, Tenn.) closed out the meet for the Eagles with a 40^th place finish.

Lincoln Memorial had the top-three finishers in the women's race. The Railsplitters were the top teams in both the men's and women's events.

Schools that finished behind Carson-Newman on the men's side were North Greenville, Brevard, Maryville and Johnson University. Tusuclum, Johnson University and Maryville finished behind the Carson-Newman women.

The Eagles next race will be on Sep, 23 at the Asheville Cross Country Invitational. To stay up to date with all the latest Carson-Newman cross country news, stay tuned to cneagles.com

Women's Team Final

Women's Individual Finish

Men's Team Final

Men's Individual Finish

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