Concord Hosts Alumni Meet Friday Afternoon

ATHENS, W.Va. – The Concord University men's and women's cross country teams close the regular season by hosting the Concord Alumni Invite Friday afternoon at Pipestem State Park.

SCHEDULE
4:00 p.m. – Women's 5,000-meter race
5:00 p.m. – Men's 8,000-meter race

COMPETING TEAMS: Bluefield State, Charleston, Concord, Davis & Elkins, West Virginia Tech

LAST TIME OUT
The Concord women's team finished seventh at the Royals XC Challenge last Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the first time this fall, senior Madison Cornett was the top runner for the Mountain Lions as she checked in at 19:05 for the 5,000-meter course. Junior Katy Walkup ran a time of 19:24. Freshman Kate Kelly just missed the 19-minute threshold as she ran 20:04. Sophomore Sara Turner finished up in 20:37. Making her season debut, junior Emma Jenkins came through in 20:44.

Senior Logan Zuchelli led the way for the Concord men as he ran a personal-best 8,000-meter time of 24:37 which placed him 14^th. CU was third as a team at the Royals XC Challenge. Sophomore Braden Ward finished 37^th, clocking 25:07. Junior Alex Irvin (72^nd) and senior Ethan Board (73^rd) finished in times of 25:49 and 25:53, respectively. The final scoring runner for the Mountain Lions was sophomore Andrew Tickle who was 78^th in a showing of 25:56.

CONCORD ALUMNI INVITE NOTES
The Mountain Lion women have been victorious at their home meet each of the last three years and eight of the last nine seasons. The lone time CU did not win was 2019. This will be one of the toughest fields at the Concord Alumni Invite in recent years with Charleston and Davis & Elkins both being ranked in the top 10 in the Atlantic Region. Last year, Cornett (third), Walkup (fourth) and sophomore Charlotte McGinnis (fifth) were all in the top five at Pipestem. Junior Emma Londeree (eighth) and sophomore Abbey Londeree (10^th) captured top-finishes. Walkup will be after her third straight top-five finish on Friday afternoon after placing fourth in 2022.

Like the women, the CU men have had equal amounts of success at Pipestem State Park, winning four years in a row and eight of the last nine times. Board was the runner-up in last year's race with Ward finishing third. The rest of the Concord top ten was rounded out by sophomore AJ Skeens (seventh), Tickle (ninth) and senior Zach Wilson (10^th). In 2022, Zuchelli finished fifth while Board came through in ninth. Friday's race features three of the top four teams in the Atlantic Region duking it out as Davis & Elkins and Charleston are the top two teams with Concord checking in fourth.