Scott Shelton
Staff Writer
The Troy men’s cross-country team finished second, and the women’s team finished seventh at the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama, on Saturday.
Sophomore Bradley Dixon led the men’s team in the 8k race with a time of 25:33.10, which was good enough to finish fifth out of 61 runners from Division I schools.
Teammate and junior Brackin Stewart finished just behind Dixon in sixth with a time of 25:34.80.
Behind them, Sawyer Sprung, Brennan Garriques and Daniel Glick finished in the top 11, contributing to the men’s strong overall showing in the race.
Delaney Moore, Thomas Ward, Christian Anderton and Chance Roe all finished in the top 50 to round out the day for the men.
Morehead State had three runners in the top four and seven in the top 20 — including the individual winner — to take the top spot for the Division I schools in the men’s race.
Twenty non-Division I teams competed as well, and Troy’s overall time of 2:07:01.30 and average of 25:24.26 was better than any of those teams’ times.
The women’s team finished with a total time of 1:42:51.20, which was seventh best of the Division I schools and better than 15 of the non-Division I schools.
Freshman Claire Vaughn led the women’s team in the 5k race with a 32nd place finish and a time of 20:04.30.
Behind Vaughn, junior Krystin Guirey finished in 41st with a time of 20:20.60 and senior Sarah Zysltra finished 44th with a time of 20:29.00.
Erika Kulp and Jenna Oden finished 48th and 54th, respectively, to round out the women’s team.
Georgia State had the fastest runner in the women’s race, but Lipscomb University took first place overall of the Division I teams.
Emory University had the best total time of any team at the meet and beat the Trojans’ time by nine minutes with a time of 1:33:58.80.
Both of Troy’s cross-country teams have the weekend off before they head to the University of Alabama for the Crimson Classic on Oct. 13.
The teams will return to Tuscaloosa in November for the NCAA South Regionals.
