ANDERSON, S.C. – On the heels of a pair of individual first-place finishes and winning the USC Upstate Invitational last Saturday, the Anderson University men's and women's cross country teams will wrap up the regular season by heading to Tallulah Falls in northwest Georgia, Saturday for their first appearance at the Piedmont College Invitational.
AU freshman Olivia Evans won the Upstate Invitational, as the Trojan women claimed the first eight spots and 12 of the top 14 slots over the 5K distance last Saturday. The win was AU's second in three outings after opening the season by capturing the USC Upstate Eye opener in early September.
Evans brought home first place on the strength of a collegiate personal-best time, while junior Allyson Malone notched a season best by crossing the line in second place. Junior Martha Coleman claimed third place, with senior Alex Dixon finishing fourth. Freshman Hannah Beach also posted a new season-best time and crossed the line in fifth place, while senior Hannah Sanford was 38 seconds faster than her previous season-best effort.
Freshman Lydia Gambrell sliced 12 seconds off her previous collegiate best time and finished seventh, with freshman Olivia Rish also notching a season-best time and placing eighth. Junior Maddie Buddenberg was 17 seconds faster than her previous season best by crossing the finish line in 10th place, while freshman Katherine Lewis cut nearly two minutes off her previous career-best time and claimed 11th place.
Sophomore Emily Olson posted a career-best time and finished 12th, with senior Emily Pitts also posting a personal-best time en route to finishing 14th.
On the men's side, senior Mason Hazel made his season debut a successful one by leading all non-NCAA Division I runners for the second straight year at last week's USC Upstate Invitational, with the Trojans capturing the top four spots and seven of the top eight finishes.
Freshman Ben Clark was second among NCAA Division II runners, while classmate Weston Hutto slashed nearly 20 seconds off his previous season-best effort and crossed the finish line in third place. Freshman Cameron Owens-Hunter finished fourth, while classmate Phillip Quillen trimmed 38 seconds off his previous collegiate-best to claim sixth place.
Sophomore Luke Horne improved his time by well more than two minutes from a year ago and finished seventh, with freshman Ian Yates improving his season-best time by four seconds and crossed the line in eighth place. Senior John Drummond finished 11th, while freshman Hayden Tuten finished 13th. Newcomers David Rolon and Riley Dixon finished in 14th place and 15th place, respectively.
