HICKORY, N.C. – Luke Greer sets the standard for the season beginning the 2018 cross country slate with a win at the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational while newcomer Rachel Strayer makes strong debut for the women. 

Hurricane Florence threatened sporting events happening this week for many schools around the East Coast. A schedule change proved beneficial as the Eagles were able to get their first race of the 2018 season under their belts.

Luke Greer (United Kingdom) came out on top despite battling an injury while spending the summer at home in the UK. Only being able to begin training a mere two weeks before this race, Greer crossed the finish line with a time of 25:37.64. 

"So proud of both our men and women." Cross country coach Tyler Stepp said of their efforts. "Obviously Luke being able to win after two weeks of training is almost impossible to comprehend, but the rest of our guys competed hard and came home with great results."

Following close on the tail of Greer was Appalachian State's Colin Loy with a time of 25:38.18, earning him second place at the invitational. Following Greer for the Eagles was Kelvin Ronoh (Kenya) at 43^rdplace with a time of 27:38.30, senior Anthony Jackson (Manchester, Tenn.) at 50^thplace with the time 28:15.25, Cameron McKinley at 52^ndwith a time of 28:17.80, Brandon McKinley at 64^thplace with the time 30:32.36 and finally Jared Eddy at 72^ndplace with a time of 34:18.21.

On the women's side of the competition, freshman Rachel Strayer came ready to compete finishing in 13^thplace with a time of 19:08.43.

"On the ladies' side, Rachel strayer led the way for our team." Stepp commented. "Running a phenomenal time in her college debut."

For the rest of the women, Lindsey Williams and Priscah Jemeli (Kenya) placed 26^thand 27^thwith times of 20:32.59 and 20:33.67. Bekah White finished at 35^thplace clocking in at 20:54.91, Aubree Cole at 39^that 21:09.83, Skye McCarter at 43^rdwith the time 21:17.60 and Alexis Brown at 49^thplace with a time of 21:55.52.

"Both groups had a lot of great runs and several personal bests, which is unusual for this early in the year." Stepp said. "I'm very pleased with the rest of our ladies as we feel they raced hard and smart."

Overall the men placed 7^that the invitational while the women came in 3^rd. The Eagles will be back in action on September 28^th at the Queens City Invite.

For more on the Carson-Newman cross country teams check cneagles.com.

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