ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's and women's cross country teams compete for the second straight week when they travel to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Royals XC Challenge at McAlpine Park.
SCHEDULE
5:05 p.m. - Women's 5,000-meter race
5:45 p.m. – Men's 8,000-meter race
LAST TIME OUT
The CU men placed 18
th at the Paul Short Run hosted by Lehigh University Saturday. Senior
Logan Zuchelli was Concord's top finisher as he placed 32
nd in a time of 25:29 for the 8,000-meter course. In a field of more than 300 athletes, sophomore
Braden Ward clocked 26:05 and was 71
st. Junior
Alex Irvin (114
th/26:29) and senior
Ethan Board (137
th/26:47) were both in the top half of the field. Sophomores
Andrew Tickle (27:22) and
AJ Skeens (27:57) were the fifth and sixth runners for the Mountain Lions. And freshman
Brandon Canaday (28:05) completed the top seven.
The Concord women collected an eighth-place showing at Paul Short. Junior
Katy Walkup continued her impressive start to the season. Walkup clocked 23:22 on the 6,000-meter course and placed 15
th. Senior
Madison Cornett was nine seconds behind Walkup in 21
st. Freshman
Kate Kelly just missed a top-50 finish as she ran 24:26 for 52
nd. The field featured nearly 250 athletes. Sophomore
Sara Turner came through in 25:07 which was good enough for 83
rd. And freshman
Larah Blevins was Concord's final scoring runner in 132
nd, running 26:36. Sophomore
Charlotte McGinnis was two spots behind Blevins.
ROYALS XC CHALLENGE NOTES
Friday's race marks the fifth straight season Concord has competed at McAlpine Park in the meet hosted by Queens University.
The Concord men finished sixth as a team last season with Zuchelli earning the individual win among Division II runners in a time of 24:44 for 8,000-meters. Ward (73
rd) and Board (79
th) were both in the top 100 while Irvin just missed the top 100 in 102
nd. In 2021 and 2022, the Mountain Lions placed fourth each time. Zuchelli's fastest time on the terrain is 24:27 from 2021. Board's top career time at Queens is 26:19 two years ago.
Among the teams in the field will be Southeast Region-ranked Catawba as well as Adelphi who is ranked in the East Region. Division I teams Charlotte, Furman, Morehead State and Presbyterian also line the field Friday afternoon.
In the highly-competitive field of the Royals XC Challenge, the Concord women have been in the top 20 each of the last three years with the high water mark coming in 2021 when they placed 12
th. Cornett (19:13) and Walkup (19:40) both broke 20 minutes for the 5,000-meter course last season as they finished 61
st and 87
th, respectively. Walkup made an impressive jump from her 2022 time of 21:55. Junior
Emma Londeree and sophomore
Abbey Londeree clocked 21:43 and 22:08 last year at Queens.
A similar field awaits the Mountain Lion women with regionally-ranked Southeast schools Catawba (second), Converse (sixth) and Lenoir-Rhyne (seventh) scheduled to appear Friday. Like the men, Adelphi is regionally-ranked in the East Region.
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