Cross Country | 11/16/2019 2:31:00 PM
MEMPHIS, Tenn. Methodist's cross country season came to a close Saturday, with the men placing 24th in their eight-kilometer race and the women 25th in their six-kilometer event at the 2019 NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional Cross Country Championship meet.
Makayla Lawler posted the highest finish for a Monarch at the championship, finishing 38th in the women's race, with a time of 23 minutes, 8.3 seconds.
Leading the Methodist men was
Andrew Topoly, whose time of 26:50.5 was 64th overall.
THE ESSENTIALS
Event: NCAA D-III S/SE Regional Cross Country Championships
Location: Shelby Farms; Memphis, Tenn.
National qualifying: top two teams earn automatic berths; top seven individuals not a member of an AQ team also earn nationals bids
Men's 8K, top 3 teams: 1 – Emory University, 41 points; 2 – Berea College, 94 pts.; 3 – Washington and Lee College, 116 pts.
Men's 8K, top 3 individuals: 1 – Jack Whetstone, Emory (24:49.3), 2 – Maximillian Sparks, Univ. of Lynchburg (25:07.0), 3 – Jeff Gibson, Univ. of Mary Washington (25:08.7)
Women's 6K, top 3 teams: 1 – Washington and Lee, 36 pts., 2 – Emory, 85 pts., 3 – Centre College, 101 pts.
Women's 6K, top 3 individuals: 1 – Anna Wilgenbusch, Univ. of Dallas (21:29.3), 2 – Sara Stephenson, Wash. and Lee (21:37.5), 3 – Katie Harris, Wash. and Lee (21:39.4)
MONARCH RACE NOTES
- The men's race kicked off the day's pair of races under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s.
- Topoly paced the Methodist contingent from the start, and came through the 5K mark in 46th place, out of 239 in the event.
- The pairing of Jonathan Wertz and Connor Ayers were within earshot of each other throughout the race. At the 2K mark they were separated by less than seven seconds, and the duo passed the 5K mark nearly shoulder to shoulder.
- Wertz would push back ahead over the final 3,000 meters, though, finishing 115th in a time of 27:35.9, eight seconds ahead of Ayers (27:43.8) who was 124th in the final results.
- Stephen Dukes (28:28.2) and Cameron Adair (29:16.4) rounded out the Monarchs' scoring spots, in 157th and 186th place, respectively.
- Lawler and Courtney Drumm were out in front of the Methodist entrants, with Drumm (43rd; 23:51.6) finishing three minutes ahead of the next Monarch.
- Lemlem Gebremichele was the next Methodist runner to cross the finish line, posting a time of 26:53.2 to finish 177th (of 239) after passing through the 2K mark in 188th.
- Olivia Mague (205th; 28:23.9) and Ally Mattera (207th; 28:30.3) were separated by 11 seconds at that same 2K mark, but Mattera closed the gap over the remaining 4,000 meters of the race to finish just seven seconds and two spots behind her teammate.
