Women's Results | Men's Results
SEWANEE, Tenn. – The Birmingham-Southern cross country teams competed at the Sewanee Invitational this past weekend, with the women finishing sixth overall in the 5K and the men finishing eighth in the 8K.
For the women, the top finisher for the Panthers was sophomore Mary Elaine Williamson at 13th with a time of 19:36.06, followed by sophomore Caitlin Hodges at 44th with a time of 21:14.62, sophomore Emily Moore at 48th (21:19.25), freshman Maggie Zernick at 56th (21:38.68), freshman Katelyn Carroll at 100th (21:52.52), sophomore Katie Sack at 69th (22:17.44), senior Terza Weston at 97th (23:20.58), and sophomore Hannah Scott at 139th (27:10.24).
"Our women's team is still very young," head coach Lars Porter said. "Williamson had a great race, almost a minute faster than she opened up here last year. She will be exciting to watch this season. The middle pack can run faster. I am confident that the gap between one and three will be much smaller next week. The freshmen were impressive. We discussed goals beforehand, and they went out and ran exactly what we discussed. It was a good start to their season."
On the men's side, senior Forrest Boughner was BSC's top runner, placing 13th with a time of 26:49.99. Senior Justin Leach finished 27th with a time of 27:31.20, followed by senior Blake McDaniel at 53rd (28:23.48), junior James Watters at 78th (29:09.80), sophomore Richard Tsao at 80th (29:12.94), senior Jack Heath at 102nd (30:16.24), sophomore Reed Kramer at 104th (30:18.91), junior Christian Strevy at 126th (31:13.25), and freshman Alex Darden at 145th (32:33.72).
"With a relatively experienced team on the men's side, I was hoping for a stronger finish," Porter said. "They got in there and competed, however, and learned a few things that we need to change about our approach to racing. Next week should provide a serious challenge on a fast course. It will be interesting to see if they can implement some of those changes for a more successful day.
"Next week on the big scene of Memphis Twilight, there is little room for casualness," Porter continued. "We'll have to be ready to sacrifice starting line to finish line."