September 20, 2008

Complete Results
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GAFFNEY, S.C.—All five of the Knights scoring runners finished in the top-10 as St. Andrews Presbyterian College sped past the other seven teams in the men’s 8k race at the Limestone Invitational on Saturday morning to easily claim the team title.

St. Andrews, currently ranked No. 5 in the Southeast Region, posted an impressive score of 25 points (15 points being perfect) en route to its second straight first place trophy to start the 2008 season. SAPC won the UNC Invitational two weeks earlier. You have to more than double-up the Knights score before you get to the second place finishers with 56 points. Among the seven teams St. Andrews defeated were regional foes Francis Marion University, Catawba College, Newberry College, and host Limestone College.

"This was a good race for us on both sides,” said St. Andrews first year head coach Jim Walters. “However, we still have a lot of work ahead of us.  I expect great improvement throughout the remainder of the season.”

A trio of Knights followed the race champion across the finish line to take three of the top four individual spots. Senior Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, Va.) was just two seconds behind the winner taking the runner-up honors with a time of 25:57. Sophomore Pedro Tapia Jr. (Sanford, N.C) took the bronze medal with a blazing speed of 26:45 and sophomore Doug Holt (Toms River, N.J.) placed fourth at 27:23.

The sophomore duo of James Walls (Bear Creek, N.C.) and Josh Pickett (Asheville, N.C.) were the fourth and fifth Knights harriers to finish in the top-10. Walls was the seventh fastest runner overall by clocking in at 27:27. Pickett nabbed 10th place with a time of 27:47.90.

Junior Brad McKee (Kings Mountain, N.C.) continues to improve finishing in 28:06, which was good for 12th place out of 60 endurance entrants. Classmate James Lloyd (Lusby, Md.) had a top-20 finish by crossing the finish line in 29:01.

Sophomore Tommy Wilson (Salisbury, N.C.) finished in the upper half of the field with a time of 29:26.30. Sophomore Jon Lecker (Minneola, Fla.) and senior Patrick Hogan (Denton, N.C.) completed the Knights results with times of 30:10 and 30:24, respectively.

St. Andrews will try and make it three straight when they next compete in the Belmont Abbey Invitational on Saturday, October 4. The men’s 8k race on the Brother Paul Trail begins at 9:45 a.m. Belmont Abbey will host the Conference Carolinas Championships on the same course later in the year.