RESULTS
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Lee University men's cross country team completed the regular season with a first place finish at the Royals Cross Country Challenge. The 8K event was held at McAlpine Park.
The No. 12 Flames finished ahead of three other ranked NCAA Division II squads with 75 points. Mount Olive, ranked No. 21, was second with 98 team points. Host school Queens University of Charlotte (No. 16) was third with 105 points and No. 9 University of Charleston (W.Va.) amassed 117 points to complete the top four in the 57-team field.
"The ability of our top five to work together is quite remarkable," said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. "We had all five men within 13 seconds of each other. The whole team keeps progressing each race. We lost to No. 9 Charleston just two weeks ago and were able to beat them by a pretty good margin tonight."
Lee put five runners in the top 25 and eight in the top 39. The average team time of 24:34.64 was the best by any Lee men's team at the 8K distance.
Joshua Chepkesir of UNC Pembroke was the first of 519 runners to cross the finish line. He won by just over 18 seconds with a mark of 23:22.7.
Will Stone was the first Lee runner across the finish line and was 14
th overall. His time of 24:27.4 eclipsed the previous Lee freshman record by 10 seconds.
Caleb Eagleson was right behind in 15
th with a mark of 24:30.1. Ben Tabor's time of 24:35.9 put him in 18
th. Thomas Kelton and Casey Guthery were the fourth and fifth Lee runners to finish, respectively. Kelton was 22
nd (24:39.7) and Guthery placed 24
th (24:40.1).
Dawson Reed and Moises Ponce were the final two scorers for the Flames. Reed (24:59.7) crossed the line in 34
th, while Ponce finished in 35
th with a time of 25:00.9.
Adan Rodriguez finished 39
th overall after completing the course in 25:02.1. Ezekiel Harless was 71
st (25:32.1). Andrew Hendry completed the Lee finishers at 26:39.3 (178
th).
"We have a lot of great leadership among these men. I can't wait to see what they accomplish in the post season," added Morgan.
Next up for the Flames will be the Gulf South Conference Championship on Saturday, October 26, in Montevallo, Alabama.
