Scott Shelton
Staff Writer
The Troy men’s cross-country team finished 12th at the Crimson Classic on Friday, while the women’s team finished 30th — the teams’ last meet of the regular season.
The Trojan men raced in a field of 26 Division I teams, while the women finished last in their 6k race. The Alabama Crimson Tide hosted the meet and finished second and fifth overall in the men’s and women’s races, respectively.
Sophomore Brackin Stewart was the leading runner for Troy in the men’s 8k race with a time of 25:47.1, good enough for 60th out of 224 Division I runners.
Fellow Trojans Sawyer Sprung and Bradley Dixon finished 69th and 70th, respectively, and nine seconds behind Stewart. Brennan Garriques and Daniel Glick followed close behind, finishing 88th and 94th with times of 26:14.1 and 26:17.6.
Delaney Moore finished 182nd, and Thomas Ward finished 198th to round out the day for the men’s team.
Middle Tennessee State had the fastest runner of the day and also took home first place overall out of the Division I schools.
The men’s team’s 12th-place finish was good enough to finish mid-pack of the 26-team field, as well as to beat schools like Oklahoma, Mississippi State, LSU, Vanderbilt and Sun Belt rival South Alabama.
For the first time this season, the women’s team raced in a 6k race instead of a 5k and struggled on its way to a last-place finish out of 30 teams.
Junior Erika Kulp led the women’s team with a 217th place finish and a time of 24:35.0.
Behind Kulp, Katherine Lowe finished 232nd with a time of 24:52.6, and Krystin Guirey finished 240th with a time of 25:10.0.
Sarah Zysltra and Claire Vaughn were the last Trojans to cross the finish line, finishing 254th and 259th, respectively.
Auburn had the fastest runner in the 6k, but Georgia Tech took first place overall with a total time of 1:45:07.6.
Both Trojan teams have the weekend off before they race at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, for the Sun Belt Championships on Oct. 28.
On Nov. 10, they will return to the University of Alabama for the NCAA South Regionals.
