ROCK HILL, S.C. – Junior cross country runner Colten Lee was named First Team All-SAC following his sixth place performance at the South Atlantic Conference Championships this Saturday.
"I think this a big honor and it really showed the work that I put in," said Lee. "This was a goal that I had this season, to be All-SAC and to do it in one of the most competitive conferences is very humbling and a great experience."
Lee finished the regular season with three first place finishes and setting a total of two personal best times on the season. Lee kicked off the season with a first place finish at the LMU Railsplitter Open 6K in a time of 19:40.7. He then went on to earn first overall at the Cherokee Farms Invitational 8K (25:41.0) and the Nooga At Night 5K (14:25.3).
At the South Atlantic Conference Championship on Saturday, Oct. 26, Lee clocked in a 6th place finish in the men's 8K race with a time of 24:34.6 and helped the Eagles secure an 8th overall team finish. Lee came up short of a top-3 finish behind four runners from Wingate and an Anderson runner with the top time being 23:46.0.
"I had to trust in the training and trust in the process," said Lee. "Coach Borden is big on emphasizing that your time will come and he told me that I was due for a big race. I went out there and raced with the best of them and did what I needed to do."
Eagles head coach Brent Borden has been impressed with the work that Lee has put into this season and looks forward to seeing where he goes in the coming weeks.
"Colten gets better every single day," said Borden. "He's got the mindset and work ethic that he wants to go out there and continue to prove people wrong. He gets one percent better each day, each workout and he's not afraid to push himself. He's confident and we've seen that this year with him getting first place in three out of the five races on the season. He knows that he's up there with elite competition and he's going to continue to shoot big going forward."
After a rest week for the Eagles cross country team, Lee looks ahead to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships coming up on Saturday, Nov. 9th at the Milliken Center in Spartanburg, S.C.
Stay up to date with all things Carson-Newman cross country by visiting cneagles.com
