Cross Country earns second straight win
For the first time in program history, the Troy men’s cross country team brought home the victory in back-to-back meets after winning the Azalea City Classic Friday. The men tallied 25 points in the win, while the women finished as runners-up with 45 points.
In the process, both men and women ran multiple top 10 finishes and broke numerous personal records. Head coach Brian Cunningham spoke about how happy they were about replicating the results of their previous meet.
“Both teams did a good job of executing the plan, being competitive and being tough,” Cunningham said. “We still have plenty of work to do, but it was another nice momentum builder for the teams.”
Overall, the men earned six top-10 finishes and four personal bests. Riley Treadaway led the Trojans by earning a time of 15:15.96 and second place. Treadaway broke his personal best in the process and trailed the lead by less than 15 seconds.
Patterson Graham, Caden Blackman and Lane Watson all finished within five seconds of each other and placed third, fourth and fifth respectively. Graham ran a time of 15:28.91, Blackman ran 15:32.40 and Watson finished right behind him with a time of 15:34.35. Both Graham and Watson earned new personal records.
Rounding out the top 10, Keith Warner earned ninth with a time of 15:52.39, and Pierre Boerkey followed behind in 10th and gained a new personal best with his time of 16:04.82.
Overall, the men almost halved their previous winning score from Montevallo, winning with 26 points in the Azalea City Classic as opposed to Montevallo’s 40 points. They also almost doubled their top 10 finishes during the competition.
On the women’s side, Winny Kosgei once again led the Trojans , placing third and running a time of 18:29.08. Not only did Kosgei earn a personal record, but she beat her old record by over 30 seconds.
Abby Jepkemboi and Lucy Turley rounded out the top 10 for the Trojans, running 18:59.22 and 19:05.31, respectively. Jepkemboi earned eighth place and beat her old personal best by over 30 seconds, while Turley earned tenth.
Pheline Mining (19:26.79) and Haley Wilson (19:28.99) rounded out sub-20 minute runners and earned 15th and 16th, respectively. Both runners earned personal records in the process, with Mining beating her last record by over 20 seconds. Kynley Albright finished out the top 20 with a time of 20:01.41. Albright also earned a personal record and surpassed her previous time by almost 50 seconds.
The women’s side lowered their score by 21 points and had three top 10 finishes during the Azalea City Classic versus the one top ten finish while they were in Montevallo.
The Trojans’ next meet will bring them to Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday, Oct. 9, for the FSU XC Invite. During the event, the men will run an 8k starting at 7:40 a.m., and the women will start at 8:20 a.m. running a 6k.
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