CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Behind a personal-best effort by senior Ben Clark, the Anderson men's cross country team began the abbreviated season with a third-place finish Friday afternoon at the Royals Cross Country Challenge, which was hosted by the Queen City Track Club.
Clark traversed the 8K distance in a time of 24.40 en route to a sixth-place showing alongside four teammates who also posted career-best times on the afternoon. Paced by the York, S.C., native, Trojan runners claimed five of the top-20 spots.
"Both of our women's and men's teams really showed up to compete today," said Anderson head coach Kevin Eagle. "With only having a six-day notice of this race, they all came in mentally prepared to lay it all on the line and give it 100 percent. Going into the meet, our main goals were to compete no matter the pace, and to simply have fun. We have found out during this pandemic that we cannot take competing for granted."
Junior Brandon Wilson finished 12th on the strength of a personal-best time of 25.10, with senior Matthew Burgess also notching a career-best time of 25.15 and taking home 13th place. Sophomore Michael Burgess claimed the 15th slot with a career-best 25.20, while freshman Jonathan Roberts (25.33) crossed the finish line in 20th place.
Junior Noah McLain claimed 25th in a time of 26.09, with senior Hayden Tuten posting a personal-best time of 26.30 and taking home 28th place. Freshman Ben Elson (26.40) and junior Thomas Sutcliffe (26.53) finished 30th and 33rd, respectively.
"Our men ran a gutsy race on the four-loop course and had several big, individual surprises," added Eagle. "It was nice to see Ben Clark back to his normal form after battling a few injuries. Seeing Brandon Wilson finish as high up as he did on our team was a bright spot as well. Just like the women, our men ran together as a strong pack for the majority of the race, which is crucial to being successful. We missed two of our top guys for various reasons today, but I'm excited to see what the outcome was with the group we put out there."
Anderson will get back on the course, Saturday Sept. 29, at the North Georgia Cross Country Invitational.
"I am very pleased with today's results and cannot wait to have the athletes compete again next weekend at UNG," concluded Eagle.
