SALISBURY, N.C. - Led by freshman Mason Hazel's season-best time, the Anderson University men's cross country team placed fifth at the 2014 South Atlantic Conference Championships, hosted by Catawba College at Salisbury Community Park.
"Mason ran really well," said Anderson head coach Randy Greer. "[As a team] it wasn't our best race of the year. We ran okay. We really needed everyone to move up two or three spots."
Hazel slashed more than 16 seconds off his previous
personal-best and crossed the line in a time of 25:50.20, while
capturing ninth place. His effort garnered the Summerville, S.C.
native a spot on both the SAC All-Freshman team and the Second-Team
All-Conference squad. Hazel becomes the first Trojan runner to
bring home SAC All-freshman accolades since the trio of Kyle Koby,
Parks Edwards and Will Belue earned the honor in 2010.
Graduate student Westley Wilson finished 21st in a time of
27:36.74, while sophomore Ben Boerma placed 33rd in a time of
28:02.35. Fellow sophomore Ned Kennedy (28:54.55) crossed the line
in 48th, with sophomore Jesse Patrick earning 51st in a time of
29:00.16.
Sophomore Michael Burch (29:34.09) and senior Joshua Visi-Clark (29:44.41) finished 63rd and 65th, respectively.
Mars Hill continued its dominance of SAC cross country, as the Lions have won a record 18-straight conference titles, while Queen's Felix Duchampt took the top spot in the 8K event to pick up Runner of the Year honors.
The Lions notched 27 points just ahead of Queens' 41 markers in a race decided by the 4-5 runners. Wingate placed third with 136 points and in fourth was Lenoir-Rhyne with 140 points. Anderson claimed the No. 5 position as it finished the meet with 154 points. Lincoln Memorial's 160 points was good for sixth, while Coker's 184 points placed them at No. 7. Tusculum found itself at No. 8 with 186 points and in ninth was Carson-Newman with 196 points. Catawba finished with 242 points to place 10th and at No. 11 was Newberry with 252 points. Brevard College did not compete enough runners to place in the men's event.
The Royals' Duchampt finished the 8K course in 25:41 to mark the second-straight year of claiming the men's individual title and Runner of the Year honor.
The NCAA Southeast Regionals will be held in Montevallo, Ala. on Saturday, Nov. 22.
