The West Virginia Intercollegiate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference holds its Men's Cross Country championship on October 24.
Each team in the WVIAC wants to peak at that meet.
Concord might be positioning itself to do just that.
A less-than-completely-healthy Mountain Lions squad followed up its strong fourth-place showing at last week's Greensboro Invitational by finishing an impressive fifth in the University 'Blue' division of the Greater Louisville Classic, Saturday, October 3.
Each of Concord's top five runners finished in the top 70 in the 33-team, 331-runner field.
Freshman Craig Pritt (Terra Alta, WV/Preston, WV), the current WVIAC Runner of the Week, finished in 22nd place to be Concord's top runner.
Another freshman, Szymon Rola (Poland/Fork Union Military Academy) was 39th.
Sophomore Robby Peters (Greenbrier West HS) set a personal best, covering the 8K course in 27:07.30 to finish 47th.
Sophomore Nick Lucento (Shady Spring, WV/Shady Spring HS) also produced a personal best to finish 68th, with a time of 27:24.70. (“He set a new personal best big-time,” said head coach Mike Cox.)
Senior Lance McDaniel (Pulaski, VA/Pulaski HS) was CU's number four finisher, coming in at 88th. Junior John Meadows (McArthur, WV/Independence HS) was close behind, finishing 91st to round out Concord's top five.
“We had some illness hit the team, including Pritt and Rola,” Cox said. “We got personal bests from Peters and Lucento, and Lance and John were solid. We did well, but we can do better.”
Concord is ranked #9 in this week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Region poll, conducted by the U.S. Track & Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Mountain Lions have one more tune-up before the WVIAC meet – the Concord Invitational, at Pipestem State Park, on Saturday, October 17.
