Knights Cross Country continues to impress

October 8 , 2005

NEWTON, NC—For the second straight week the St. Andrews men’s cross country team won a race in dominating fashion, this week winning the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational by 42 points. Senior Kelly Chaplin (Montpelier, VT) ran her fastest collegiate race yet to lead the women’s team to a seventh place finish.  

Men

St. Andrews won the men’s race with the five scoring Knights finishing in the top-seven, scoring an almost perfect 20 points. Lees-McRae (62 points) edged out Pfeiffer (67) and host Lenoir-Rhyne (68) in the battle for second place.

The Knights, who have been ranked No. 2 in the Southeast Region for four consecutive weeks, defeated regionally ranked No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne, No. 7 Lees-McRae and No. 9 Pfeiffer. SAPC improved to 23-1 against Southeast teams and a perfect 12-0 against CVAC rivals.

Bobcat Lewis Martin edged out sophomore Chris Miller (Cedar Park, TX) in the 8,000-meter race with a time of 26:21. Miller finished eights seconds behind Martin in second. Freshman Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, VA) rounded out the top-three at 26:41.

Royal Ryan Connelly was the only other runner that broke up the Knights scoring five, finishing fourth. Junior Tim Bourke (Alden, NY) had a top-five finish stopping the clock at 27:02. Freshman Perry Morris (Austin, TX) and sophomore Adam Vick (Salisbury, NC) finished sixth and seventh, respectively, with times of 27:40 and 27:52.

Freshman Travis Cansler finished 18th out of 64 runners with a time of 28:58. Freshman Patrick Hogan (Denton, NC) posted a 33:28 and senior Devon Gillis (Wilmington, NC) completed the Knights running at 33:52.

Women

Chaplin, the three-time CVAC Women’s Runner of the Week, continued her sparkling senior season with her collegiate best 5,000-meter race, posting a PR of 18:42. Chaplin’s 30-second victory over Genna Eisenmann (LRC) was her second win and fourth top-10 of 2005.

Queens won the team title in the women’s race with 44 points. Host Lenoir-Rhyne (53 points) finished second and Lees-McRae (73) rounded out the top-three. SAPC finished seventh out of eight with 156 markers.

Freshman Leah Nicholson (Hendersonville, NC) once again set a PR in a 5k race with a time of 20:31, which was good for 16th place out of 55 runners. Freshman Valerie Hamilton (Concord, NC) crossed the finish line in 24:45; sophomore Sara Pauciello clocked in at 25:02; sophomore Jordan Copp (Overland Park, KS) posted a PR of 26:37; and freshman India Hill (Somerset, VA) completed the Knights running at 27:44.

St. Andrews will compete in the CVAC Championships on Friday, October 21 in Anderson, South Carolina (hosted by Anderson College).