NEWBERRY, S.C. -- Post-season began for Anderson's cross country teams on Saturday with the South Atlantic Conference Championships, hosted by Newberry College. The women's team raced first and finished 4th in the field, followed by the men's side who landed 2nd on the leaderboard.
"I am so proud of how both teams performed and competed this morning," said Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Kevin Eagle. "This meet displayed the amount of depth we have and the importance of that depth."
The Trojan women finished with three All-Conference athletes, as Kennedy Roush (Greenville, S.C.) ran a personal record time of 21:49 for a 6th-place, 1st-Team finish, followed by Lucy Schmitt (Greenville, S.C.) who also PR'd with an 8th-place 2nd-Team time of 21:54. Emma Whitaker (Inman, S.C.) posted a season best time of 22:41 to finish 18th for the 3rd-Team honoree.
Mclayne Wyatt (Greenville, S.C.) finished 4th for the Trojans and 31st in the field with a personal record time of 23:31, while Natalie States (Greensboro, N.C.) made her collegiate debut, running for 23:33 to finish 32nd overall and 5th for the Black and Gold.
Rounding out the scoring for AU was Molly Hanlon (Cumming, Ga.) who boasted a personal best 23:48 and Sarah Rudolph (Winter Springs, Fla.) who recorded a season best 24:00, finishing 38th and 41st respectively.
Also posting personal records in the meet were Hope Edmunds (Sandy, Utah) with a time of 24:14, Hannah Reedy (Seabrook, S.C.) with a time of 25:03 and Caroline Irvin (Easley, S.C.), who opened her college career with 25:36 race.
On the men's side, five Trojans earned All-Conference honors. Spain Vaughan (Greer. S.C.) ran a season best 24:29 to finish 1st for the Trojans and 4th in the field for 1st-Team recognition. Earning 2nd-Team distinction were William Cronin (Lexington, S.C.) and Elliot Dotson (Greenville, S.C.), who finished 12th and 13th at 24:42 and 24:47 respectively. Cronin's time broke his personal record and earned him the title of SAC Freshman of the Year.
Finishing out the Top-21 and solidifying a spot on the SAC 3rd-Team were Joey Tindale (Rock Hill, S.C.) and David Williams (Irmo, S.C.) who each tallied personal records on the day. Tindale finished 17th with a time of 25:08, followed by Williams in 19th at 25:21.
Ty Nelson (Moore, S.C.) finished 24th on the board and 6th for the Trojans with a season best time of 25:36, while Eddie Wedgewood (Easley, S.C.) finished 26th with a PR time of 25:38 and Nathan Smith (Danielsville, Ga.) finished 27th with a PR time of 25:41. Jack Barrett (Greenville, S.C.) finished 31st, running a 25:57, followed by Sean McAdams (Greenville, S.C.) at 28:18.
"We had some top runners who were not 100% today, but that allowed others the opportunity to step up. And that is exactly what happened!" added Eagle. "If we can go out and preform like this when key pieces have off days, then we know we have a scary team when we are clicking on all cylinders."
The Trojans look ahead to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships in two weeks (Nov. 9) hosted in Spartanburg.
