ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's and women's cross country teams race for the second straight weekend when they travel to the Royals XC Challenge at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, North Carolina Friday.
RACE SCHEDULE
5:00 p.m. – Women's 5,000-meter race
5:45 p.m. – Men's 8,000-meter race
LAST TIME OUT
The Concord men placed second at the Southeast Regional Preview hosted by North Georgia last Saturday as they scored 54 points, nine behind first-place Anderson. Junior
Logan Zuchelli was named Mountain East Conference Runner of the Week after his individual win in a time of 24:59 for the 8,000-meter course. Senior
Preston Prather notched a third-place showing while freshman
Braden Ward (14th), junior
Ethan Board (17
th) and freshman
Jaeden Holstein (19
th) all finished in the top 20. Graduate student
Alex Watty (22
nd) and sophomore
Alex Irvin (24
th) placed in the top 25.
The CU women had similar success over the weekend as they finished fifth in the team standings at UNG. Graduate student
Emily Wallace paced the Mountain Lion with an eighth-place showing as she clocked 23:24 on the 6,000-meter course. Junior
Madison Cornett (15
th) and sophomore
Katy Walkup (23
rd) were the second and third runners for Concord. Junior
Erin O'Sullivan (31
st) and freshman
Charlotte McGinnis (50
th) completed the scorers.
ROYALS CHALLENGE NOTES
This will be the third consecutive season that Concord competes at the meet hosted by Queens University. The CU men have been fourth each of the two previous seasons. Zuchelli (24:53) and Prather (24:56) both broke 25 minutes as Zuchelli placed 15
th and Prather was 17
th. Board clocked 26:19 as he finished 83
rd in a race that featured more than 250 competitors. Watty ran 27:33 while Irvin was 13 seconds behind Watty. Zuchelli's time of 24:27 from 2021 is a personal-record time as is Prather's showing of 24:39 from two seasons ago.
The Mountain Lion women finished 12
th last year at Queens and was 16
th the year prior. Wallace broke 19 minutes for the 5,000-meter course in 2021 as she clocked 18:58. O'Sullivan had a strong showing a season ago as she posted a time of 19:07 which was five seconds faster than Wallace. Walkup just missed breaking 20 minutes with a time of 20:05. Cornett clocked 20:29.
Of the teams competing, the Mountain Lions will go up against fellow MEC school Davis & Elkins. Other notable Division II teams include Catawba, Lenoir-Rhyne, North Greenville, Tusculum and Wingate. Division I schools include Campbell, Charlotte, Furman, Wake Forest and Winthrop.
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