TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Valdosta state men's and women's cross-country teams finished a dominating showing
Saturday morning at the Pre-NAIA XC Nationals in Tallahassee, Fla. at Apalachee Regional Park, hosted by Thomas University. The men's team finished first overall with 40 total points while the women's team finished with 157 points, good for sixth place.
Senior
Logan Kraus, the Blazer Guardian Bank Runner of the Race, finished with a time of 26:24.5, third overall, while senior
Brishen House finished as the top Blazer runner, second overall, with a total time of 26:07.6. Joseph Visconti, an unattached runner, took first place overall with a time of 25:52.2.
The men's team took first place overall, with 40 total points and a team time of 2:15:13. SCAD Atlanta (60) took second in the race while Cumberlands (78), SCAD Savannah (83), Mobile (129) and Ave Maria (154) rounded out the top six, respectively. The host, Thomas University, finished seventh with 199 points while Florida Atlantic (203), St. Thomas (229) and Webber (292) rounded out the table.
For the women, Blazer sophomore
Caitlyn Koske, the Guardian Bank Runner of the Race, finished 10
th as the top Blazer finisher with a personal record time of 19:07.4 for a PR of nearly 40 seconds. Junior
Kyleigh Rice was the second place Blazer finisher with a total time of 20:16.4, good for 29
th overall and a PR of nearly 20 seconds.
Katie LaCroix earned a PR of almost 40 seconds. VSU graduate assistant coach
Angie Cipriani, running unattached, finished second.
The women's team took home sixth place overall, with 157 points and a team time of 1:46:07. Florida Atlantic took home first place overall with 46 points, while Cumberlands finished second with 49 points. Scad Savannah (83), Dalton State College (113) and Ave Maria (118) rounded out the top five while Florida Gateway College (207), Mobile (244), Florida A&M (264), St. Thomas (285), Tallahassee Community College (286) and Webber (338) followed Valdosta State.
Individual Times
Men's
2.
Brishen House: 26:07.6
3.
Logan Kraus: 26:24.5
9.
Charlie Eaton: 27:21
14.
Dalton Pender: 27:29.3
20.
Adam Mastrobuono: 27:50.2
22.
Gavin Sadowski: 28:00.2
28.
Braedon Bensley: 28:36.8
33.
Alec Munger: 28:59
47.
River Livingston: 29:38.2
54.
Matthew Herndon 29:52.1
68.
Austen Sekowski: 30:31.6
Women's
10.
Caitlyn Koske: 19:07.4
29.
Kyleigh Rice: 20:16.4
33. Katherine LaCroix: 20:20.3
75.
Jaycie Anderson: 22:55.1
81.
Emily Phillips: 23:27.4
94.
Passion Leggett: 25:37.1
The Blazer cross country teams are back in action
on Friday, Sept. 23 at the Queens City Invite in Charlotte, N.C., with the men's race set to begin
at 4:15 p.m., and the women's
at 5:05 p.m., at McAlphine Creek Park.
