CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Valdosta State men's and women's cross country team completed the Queen City invite Friday afternoon with the men taking home fifth place overall in the 8K invitational race and the women taking 13th overall in the women's 5K invitational race.
For the men, Milligan took first place overall with 25 points while Anderson, UNC Pembroke and Jacksonville State followed with 46, 94 and 139 points respectively. Valdosta State rounded out the top five with a team time of 2:13:23 and 171 points while North Greenville (192), Georgia College (207) and Southeastern (220) followed suit. SCAD Savannah (230) and Piedmont (245) rounded out the top ten teams and Benedict (239), USC-Beaufort (351), Presbyterian (366), Mars Hill (436), and Louisburg College (438) rounded the table.
Senior Logan Kraus finished the race as the top Blazer finisher, 17th overall, with a personal record time of 25:43.0. Junior Adam Mastrobuono was the second Blazer finisher with a time of 26:36.0, good for 37th overall and a season-best. The Blazers finished with the fastest team average of the season with a 26:40 average. Junior Charlie Eaton almost met a PR time with 26:58 overall, good for 48th overall. Junior Braedon Bensley, the Guardian Bank Runner of the Race, had a significant PR with a one-minute improvement with a time of 27:01, marking a career-best time while freshman River Livingston had a PR time of 27:05. Junior Dalton Pender had an improvement from last week with a time of 27:11 while sophomore Alec Munger finished 70 seconds faster than last week with a time of 27:40.
For the women, Milligan took home first with 29 points while Lenoir-Rhyne (67), Anderson (67), SCAD Savannah (106) and Southeastern (147) rounded out the top five. Meredith (182), Jacksonville State (188), UNC Pembroke (211), North Greenville (241) and Presbyterian (285) finished in the top ten while Piedmont (301) and Georgia College (304) followed suit. Valdosta State finished 13th with a team time of 1:51:29 and 357 points, while Mars Hill (422) and USC-Beaufort (443) rounded out the table.
Junior Katie LaCroix finished as the top Blazer finisher with a time of 20:02, good for 63rd overall while sophomore Kyleigh Rice finished with a personal record time of 20:15, good for 74th overall. Sophomore Jaycie Anderson finished with a time of 22:16, 39 seconds faster than last week's race, while freshman Emily Phillips, the women's Guardian Bank Runner of the Race, ran 40 seconds faster than last week's race with a time of 22:47. Former Blazer and graduate assistant coach Angie Cipriani finished fourth place overall with a PR time of 17:51. Sophomore Caitlyn Koske did not finish the race due to her shoe falling off in the first few hundred meters.
Blazer Times:
Men's 8K
17. Logan Kraus – 25:43 (PR)
37. Adam Mastrobuono – 26:36
48. Charlie Eaton – 26:58
51. Braedon Bensley – 27:01 (PR)
53. River Livingston – 27:05 (PR)
56. Dalton Pender – 27:11
69. Alec Munger – 27:40
85. Gavin Sadowski – 28:17
Women's 5K
63. Katie LaCroix – 20:02 (PR)
74. Kyleigh Rice – 20:15 (PR)
116. Jaycie Anderson – 22:16
121. Emily Phillips – 22:47
137. Passion Leggett – 26:09
Caitlyn Koske – DNF (Equipment Malfunction)
The Blazers are back in action on Oct. 7 at the FSU Invitational in Tallahassee, Fla. The Men's race is slated to begin at 7:40 a.m.while the women's race begins at 8:10 a.m.
