First Meet in the Books for Methodist Cross Country Teams

By: Michael Spratt

Cross Country | 9/2/2023 2:46:00 PM

SALISBURY, N.C. Methodist's men's & women's cross country teams started the new year off at the 2023 Fleet Feet Cross Country Invite on Saturday morning. The men's eight-kilometer race went off first followed by the women's five-kilometer, where both Monarch squads finished in 6th place as a team.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: 2023 Fleet Feet XC Invite (5K women, 8K men)
Location: Salisbury Community Park; Salisbury, North Carolina
Top teams, men: 1 – Catawba College (15 pts.), 2 – University of Mount Olive (69), 3 – North Greenville (S.C.) University (86)
Top individuals, men: 1 – Tanner Smith, Catawba (26:28.4), 2 – Oussama Ajala, Catawba (26:29.9), 3 – Anthony Lecorche, Catawba (26:49.6)
Top teams, women: 1 – Catawba (15 pts.), 2 – North Greenville (60), 3 – Pfeiffer University (70)
Top individuals, women: 1 – Madison Clay, Catawba (18:24.8), 2 – Natalie Almond, Catawba (18:33.7), 3 – Mikayla Jones, Catawba (18:43.5)

MONARCH NOTES

Sophomore Alex Topoly was the fastest runner of all the male Monarchs with a time of 28 minutes, 11.8 seconds, narrowly missing a top-20 finish.
Competing in his first collegiate race, Gabe Sawyer crossed the finish line a little over a minute later, 29:14.1, for a 38th overall placement. Not too far behind him was Noah Carter (29:27.6) coming in 40th place.
The next trio of Methodist runners to cross were Will Gray (29:52.2), Logan Williams (29:58.9), and Jackson Barriger (30:05.6). The spread between these three runners was within 13 seconds of each other.
Rounding out the men's side were Rafael Shilengitha (31:42.5), Austin Ezzell (31:52.8), and Anthony Bidoli (34:35.5).
For the women, freshman Makalyn Wilms wrapped up her first collegiate race with a time of 24:24.1 while coming in 31st overall. Coming in 35th place was Patti Busch following a time of 26:49.2.
Also running for the Monarchs were Charmaine Robison (32:43.3), Adriana Blakeney (35:20.9), and Niya Johnson (37:38.9).