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Hattiesburg News Staff

William Carey Men & Women Cross Country Team performs very well in Tennessee




KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The William Carey Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams competed in the NAIA Appalachian Challenge, hosted by Tennessee Wesleyan at Sequoyah Park.


For the women, in a field of twenty-one teams and 190 runners with seven of those teams either receiving votes or ranked in the NAIA Top 25 poll. The Lady Crusaders tallied 272 points to finish in tenth place. Blanca Conesa was first to cross the finish line for Carey with a time of 18:42 to finish in 24th place. Coming in 43rd place was Virginia Tirado with a time of 19:09 while Isabelle Wheeler posted a time of 19:12 to finish in 47th place.


Rounding things out for WCU were Hannah Mitchell who came in with a time of 19:54, Maria Simancas posted a time 20:52, and Aurora Latimer who finished with a time of 21:48 respectively.


"The NAIA Appalachian Challenge was a great day for our ladies' team," said Cooper Herrington. "It gave us a fantastic opportunity to race against some of the best teams in the NAIA as well as our conference. All our ladies ran a season best time. Maria Simancas had a huge day and played a pivotal role for us as our fifth finisher.


Maria had a one-minute PR and helped us edge out very tough conference opponents. Another key factor for us was Blanca experimenting with race strategy and finishing in the top twenty-five. I believe this ladies team is setting themselves up to be competitive at our conference championship and finishing the season with the last race as their best race.


From here we must get everyone healthy and ready to race at the SSAC championship. This is a fun group of ladies to work with. They are tough as nails and leave it all on the course."


The guy's race featured twenty teams and 207 runners with five of teams either receiving votes or ranked in NAIA Top 25 Poll with Carey posting an eighth-place finish with a total of 234 points.


Nathan Sury led the way with a time of 25:10 to finish in 20th place. Next to cross the finish was Gavin Wheat with a time of 25:40 to finish in 41st place while Luke Skinner posted a 57th place finish with a time of 26:03.


Gift Mashilo finished with a time 26:08 with Matthew McGuire posting a time of 26:39. Rounding out the squad was Owen Jensen who came in with a time of 26:59, Josiah Nobles who posted a time of 27:08, and Julius Giller who finished in 28:43 respectively.


"The men had a tough day," said Herrington. "The course runs fast, and this was the first time we have been able to race in weather below 80 degrees. With that in mind they posted some fast times, and I think we had near 100% of the men's team run PR. Nathan Sury had a 1 minute and 30 second PR. Gavin Wheat had a 25 second PR. Luke Skinner had a 1 minute 30 second PR. Matthew McGuire had a 25 second PR.


Josiah Nobles had a 1 minute 30 second PR. Julius Giller had 1 minute 20 second PR. So drastic improvement. However, that did not mark a successful day for us. Even though we posted some fast times we did not execute on our race plan on how we needed to for us to have our best day as a unit. We ran good but did not race great. I believe our guys learned a lot from this race and know what they must do to be successful at the SSAC championship.


I am really proud of this group of men, and I am looking forward to how they respond after facing a little adversity. This is a group of gritty guys."


Both squads are back in action Friday, November 8, as they head to Decatur, Ala. for the SSAC Championship.

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