Cross Country starts the year off with a bang

( Photo / Contributed )Hanna Cooper Powered by three top-five finishes, the Troy women’s cross country team won the opening meet of the 2020 season while the men finished fourth Friday at the Azalea City Classic at Old Brookley Golf Course. “I was pleased with how the women ran and it resulted in a win,” Head Coach Elliott Blount said. “Macki, Cadi and Gracie had outstanding runs. Kara and Tanner closed it out for us, but we were solid from top to bottom.” This marks the first time since the 2018 Watson Ford Invitational that the women have brought home a race title. Macki Walsh, Cadi Rowe and Gracie Booher landed top-five finishes to lead the Trojans to a second-place finish scoring 31 points. Walsh led the women with a second-place finish in 18:18.0, setting a 5K personal record. Rowe crossed the finish line just behind Walsh in 18:34.6, taking home third place and a new 5K personal record. In her first race in a Trojan uniform, Booher closed out Troy’s top-three finishes placing fifth in 18:56.0. On the men’s side, Blake Vaughn led the men with a 5K personal record and an 11th-place finish in 16:32.3. Mason Bennett and Sage Delfino rounded out Troy’s top-three finishes placing 13th and 14th, respectively. The men totaled 91 points in route to a fourth-place finish. “Our men still have improvements to make,” Blount said. “We’ll get back to race training with more urgency and get back at it in two weeks at home.” The squad returns to Troy to play host to the John ‘Doc’ Anderson Invite on Saturday, Sept. 26.