Welcome to St. Andrews Presbyterian College

November 3, 2007

Men's 10k Results

WINGATE, N.C.—For the third straight year junior Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, Va.) will be running in the NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championship with his fourth place finish at the Southeast Regional at Wingate University on Saturday morning.

“I am pretty stoked,” said Cooper. “It was a good and close race that I wanted the most. Hard work and training allowed me to do this well. My coaches’ really helped and I want to thank my teammates for getting me through quality days.”

Cooper led the Knights to a fourth place finish out of 18 teams with his impressive showing. Cooper finished the 10k Wingate Cross Country Course in 32 minutes and 31 seconds to finish fourth overall out of 126 runners. The junior harrier, who has run the same Wingate trail five other times for St. Andrews, set a personal record (PR) for that course layout by 33 seconds. Cooper’s fourth place finish was his best result in the Southeast Regional (seventh in 2005 and sixth in 2006).

“What a phenomenal performance from a young man that missed a week of training due to sickness seven days away from the regional championship,” said sixth year head coach Gary Aycock. “Mitch is a race-day performer that when he toes the line anything can happen!”

Cooper will compete in the National Championship at the Missouri Southern Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri on Saturday, November 17 at 11:30 a.m. SAPC has qualified for the national finals the past two seasons with Cooper finishing 143rd in 2005 and 89th in 2006. The top-five individual finishers all earn bids to the National Championship and Cooper earned his bid under that criteria.

“I look forward to once again running with the best in the country. I will be looking to try and break 32 minutes but it will be tough because it will be cold,” wrapped up Cooper.

The Knights, currently ranked No. 6 in the Southeast Region, finished ahead of No. 4 Virginia State University and No. 5 Anderson University with 151 points.

Sophomore Pedro Tapia Jr. (Sanford, N.C.) took almost two minutes (1:48) off his time at Wingate from earlier in the year to finish in 11th place with a blazing time of 33:25 and just missing his 10k PR by seven seconds.

Both Cooper and Tapia earned All-Southeast Region honors with their high finishes.

In only his second collegiate 10k race, freshman Doug Holt (Toms River, N.J.) clocked in with an impressive speed of 34:18. Holt’s time, which was more than four minutes faster than his first 10k race, was good for 21st place. Classmate Josh Pickett (Asheville, N.C.) also registered a PR for St. Andrews with a 56th place finish and a time of 36:02.

The Knights fourth place finish was even more impressive with the youth and inexperience in the lineup. Tommy Wilson (Salisbury, N.C.) was the third St. Andrews’ freshman that scored in the Knights top-five with his own 10k PR time of 36:31.

Also competing for SAPC were junior Perry Morris (Austin, Texas) with a time of 37:41 and sophomore James Lloyd (Lusby, Md.) concluding at 37:52. Lloyd was the fourth Knight out of seven competing to set a PR in a 10k endurance race.

SAPC Individual Results
4. Mitch Cooper (32:31)
11. Pedro Tapia Jr. (33:25)
21. Doug Holt (34:18)
56. Josh Pickett (36:02)
66. Tommy Wilson (36:31)
79. Perry Morris (37:41)
83. James Lloyd (37:52)