Knights XC keeps fast pace at Hagan Stone Classic

October 1 , 2005

GREENSBORO, NC—The five scoring runners for the St. Andrews men’s cross country team all finished within one minute of each other to coast to its second victory of the season at the Hagan Stone Park Classic. On the women’s side, four Knights improved on their best times of the year to finish eighth.

Men

St. Andrews won the men’s 8,000-meter race after its first five runners all finishing in the top-20 of the 147-runner race. The Knights won the 10-team race with 44 points finishing ahead of runner-ups and CVAC rivals Queens, who had 82 markers.

SAPC also defeated CVAC and Southeast Regional schools St. Augustine’s, Pfeiffer, Barton, Livingstone, Winston-Salem State, Shaw, and Mount Olive.

Sophomore Chris Miller (Cedar Park, TX) led the Knights with a fifth place finish, completing the 8K course in 26:31. Freshman Perry Morris (Austin, TX) surprised everyone with an eighth place showing, posting a personal best time of 26:48.

Freshman Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, VA) had a top-10 finish stopping the clock at 27 minutes flat. Junior Tim Bourke (Alden, NY) had a solid 15th place result with a time of 27:17. Sophomore Adam Vick (Salisbury, NC) completed the Knights team scoring with his best time of the year, 27:24, which was only 53 seconds behind Miller.

Freshman Travis Cansler (Austin, TX) crossed the finish line in 28:20, which was good for 35th. Senior Devon Gillis (Wilmington, NC) also clocked his fastest time of the year, 32:47, and sophomore Patrick Hogan (Denton, NC) completed the Knights running in 34:29.

Women

Senior Kelly Chaplin (Montpelier, VT), the two-time CVAC Runner of the Week, continued her dominating running with a ninth place finish out of 181-runners at the 5,000-meter Hagan Stone Park Classic.

Chaplin completed the race in 19:41, finishing ahead of all but on Division II runner. Winston-Salem State University’s Irene Jeptola led all D-II entrants with a 19:29 finish. The seven Division I runners that finished ahead of Chaplin were all from No. 1 nationally ranked Duke University.

St. Andrews has experienced improvements throughout its lineup with four Knights posting their best 5K times of the year. Freshman Leah Nicholson (Hendersonville, NC) finished 34th with a PR of 21:16 (56 seconds faster than her previous best).

Freshman Valerie Hamilton (Concord, NC) improved her time by seven seconds, finishing the race in 24:42. Sophomore Sara Pauciello (Sayreville, NJ) knocked over three minutes off her best time with a showing of 24:48. Freshman Jordan Copp (Overland Park, KS) almost matched Pauciello’s feat, posting a time of 27:47, which was 2:42 faster than her previous best. Freshman India Hill (Somerset, VA) completed her first collegiate 5K race in 28 minutes flat.

St. Andrews finished in eighth place out of 10 Division II colleges. Duke won the overall title while Queens led all D-II schools. The Knights finished ahead of Southeast Region foe’s Livingstone and Mount Olive.

The Knights next compete in the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational in Newton, NC, on Saturday, October 1. The women race starts at 9:30 a.m. while the men take off at 10:15 a.m.