RESULTS
DANVILLE, Ala. – In the third year of full eligibility in NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference (GSC) the Lee University men's cross country teams claimed its third consecutive GSC Championship Saturday morning at the Jesse Owens XC Course.
The No. 16 Flames placed six runners in the top 20 on their way to posting 41 points. UAH scored 70 points, while Montevallo (126) was third and Mississippi College (127) was fourth.
Christian Noble was the men's medalist. The sophomore covered the 8K distance in 24:31.26 to finish 12 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Victor Onyango of West Alabama was second at 24:43.54.
"Christian ran a phenomenal race," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "He kind of ran with the field through two, two and a half miles and then really took off over the second half of the race."
Seth Eagleson placed fourth with a time of 24:54.69 and Harold Smith gave the Flames a third runner in the top nine with a mark of 25:11.08. Caleb Eagleson and Ben Gilman rounded out the Lee scorers. Eagleson (25:21.74) was 12
th and Gilman finished 15
th (25:31.23).
"They executed great, we've never had a four, five and six run like that, especially in a championship," added Morgan. "This is the lowest score we had of the three championships, so it's definitely the best one we've had yet."
Moises Ponce and Thomas Kelton served as spacers. Ponce was 20
th with a time of 25:37.54 and Kelton recorded a time of 26:03.22 (31
st).
Alex Carter was 41
st across the line at 26:32.54. Jared Herzog's time of 26:42.18 put him in 45
th.
The Flames put three runners on the All-GSC First Team and three on the All-GSC Second Team. Noble, Seth Eagleson and Harold Smith earned first team honors by finishing in the top 10. Earning second team honors by placing 11
th through 20
th were Caleb Eagleson, Gilman and Ponce. Morgan was voted the GSC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Lee returns to action on Nov. 4 at the NCAA South Region Championships in Lakeland, Fla. The championships will be contested at Lakeland's Holloway Park and Nature Preserve.
