RESULTS

JOPLIN, Mo. – The Lee University men's cross country team placed three runners in the top 100 as the Flames placed 14^th out of 34 teams Saturday morning at the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships. The 10K race was held at Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.

Wingate University was the team champion with 70 points. Colorado School of Mines placed second (79) and East Central (108) placed third. The Flames accumulated 470 points and finished 14 points ahead of 15^th-place Augusta.

The individual champion was William Amponsah of West Texas A&M with a finishing time of 29:04.3. Matthew Fowler placed 69^th to pace the Lee runners at 30:49.4.

Ezekiel Harless stopped the clock at 30:55.3 for 80^th. Aaron Himes (31:09.7) was 96^th and Jacob Hatcher placed 103^rd (31:14.0). Owen Pearce was the final Lee scorer. He crossed the finish line at 32:00.9 (182^nd).

Stephen Clark and Roberto Fajardo were the spacers for the Flames. Clark finished 199^th at 32:11.4 and Fajardo was 203^rd with a time of 32:17.9.

The Flames' season comes to an end, but not before claiming the program's second consecutive GSC Championship and third straight NCAA South Region Championship.
 

Coach Caleb Morgan's Thoughts:
"We had a really good day, finished 14^th. That is the highest we have ever finished in school history. We felt like everything didn't finish exactly how we wanted it to go, but at the same time we had a lot of guys step up. Ezekiel Harless had a phenomenal day as our No. 2. Jacob Hatcher, in his first national championship, was our No. 3 today."

"Solid day overall. Great leadership from Matt Fowler. He got out there and stuck his nose in there from the start. He did a good job asserting himself up toward the front. I know he didn't quite have the kind of day he wanted individually, but the main thing is that he held on for the team and made sure we had a big finish."

"Aaron Himes has been out with injury since Louisville and still came out here and ran a solid day for us. He ran as our No. 4 and helped secure that top-14 finish. That's all we wanted was to finish higher than we ever did."