Sept. 26, 2012

Live Stats

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina men's and women's cross country teams are on the road this weekend at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational on Friday, Sept. 28 at McAlpine Park. The day's competition kicks off at 3:30 p.m. with the women's Gold "A" 6k race. The men are slated to begin the Gold "A" 8k race at 4:15 p.m.  The women's "B" Green 6k starts at 4:50 p.m. The men's Green "B" 8k finishes the collegiate portion of the day at 5:20 p.m.

Among the other 86 regional collegiate teams that have been invited to the race are: Appalachian State, Campbell, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, High Point, North Florida, Richmond, South Carolina, UNC Wilmington, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

The East Carolina women, who are the ninth-ranked program in the Southeast according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, are joined by 13 other regionally ranked men's and women's opponents in this weekend's competition. In the group of 13, seven are women's programs ranked in the South or the Southeast.

Both the men's and women's programs won the Pirate Invitational last weekend for the fourth straight year. The team title earned was the second race won by each of ECU's two programs in the first three weeks of the season. Junior Bjork Olsen captured the individual women's title with her time of 17:44.33. The men were led by senior Antonio Palmer. Palmer won his second individual race of the season and crossed the finish line in a personal-best 15:40.49.

The rest of women's team also had strong efforts in taking each of the top eight spots and having nine of the top 10 finishes at the race. Redshirt junior Stacey Gonzalez finished as the runner-up (17:49.98) for ECU. Other top finishers for the Pirates last week include junior Chelsea Hollingsworth (18:07.63/third place), senior Brooke Kott (18:13.37/fourth place/unattached), freshman Shewit Weldense (18:21.51/fifth place), redshirt sophomore Stefanie Fresenius (18:21.51/sixth place), redshirt sophomore Olivia Slate (18:45.34/seventh place), junior Kaylee Bythell (18:58.41/eighth place) and freshman Jessica Rossabi (19:21.14/10th place).

The men's team had each of the top six spots in the race and eight of the top 10. Redshirt sophomore Chase Miller finished just behind Palmer in a time of 15:43.44. The rest of ECU men went in the following order: redshirt junior Cory Hampshire (15:50.46/third place), junior Jakub Trzasalski (15:56.74/fourth place), redshirt freshman Brather Cline (15:59.95/fifth place), freshman John Young (16:06.72/sixth place), sophomore Tevin Richardson (16.52.23/ninth place) and freshman Dylan Traywick (17:02.92/10th place)

After this weekend's meet both programs next compete at Pre-Nationals in Louisville, Ky. on Oct. 13 starting at 9:30 a.m.

Printer-friendly format	Email this article