Men's Cross Country Preps for Conference Championships at NAIA Appalachian Challenge
Knoxville, Tenn.- The men's cross country team accomplished a first on Friday. As the hosts of the NAIA Appalachian Challenge, the team competed in the first 8K race at Sequoyah Park in Knoxville, the site of the meet.
The first runner to cross the finish line was Payt Bussey in a time of 26:38 to give him 51st place. Caleb Greene came in three places behind, running a time of 26:43 to finish in 54th place. Mack Alas became the next TWU runner to cross the finish line, crossing in 70th place with a time of 27:30.
A time of 28:36 gave Zane Marlow 88th place in the field while Conner Craig finished just inside the top 100 in 99th place with a time of 29:23. Jordan Allen (29:42, 104th) and Major Frerichs (29:56, 107th) rounded out the Bulldogs in the race.
As a team, Tennessee Wesleyan finished with 261 points to be the 10th-place team in the field. The team had a total time of 2:18:51 between their top five and an average time of 27:46.
Every runner for the Bulldogs hit a new personal best time in the 8K with their results.
This was the final race of the regular season for TWU. Up next for the team is the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championship Meet. The race for a championship is set for November 4 in Columbia, S.C.