Troy earns top half finishes at FSU XC Invite

Cross country earns numerous personal records, top half finishes during FSU XC Invite

Troy cross country earned multiple personal records while competing at the FSU XC Invite on Friday at the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

During the men’s 8k, the first Trojan to cross the finish line was Riley Treadaway, who crossed with a time of 26:21.50 and finished in 16th place overall. Caden Blackman, Patterson Graham and Lane Watson rounded the top 30 for the Trojans. Blackman finished 23rd with a time of 26:29.70, with Graham (26:35.20) and Watson (26:36.80) finishing just over one and a half seconds after each other, earning 27th and 28th place, respectively.

Keith Warner rounded out the top five finishers for the Trojans, ending in 45th place overall with a time of 27:17.00. Freshman Aaiden Badders was the only runner who earned a personal record throughout the meet with his time of 28:16.40, which earned him 68th overall.

On the women’s side, Winny Kosgei led the Trojans with a 33rd place finish and a time of 23:34.50. Blazing past the finish line just 11 seconds after, Abby Jepkemboi finished with a time of 23:45.70. Both Kosgei and Jepkemboi earned personal records in the process.

Rounding out the top 50, Lucy Turley ran the 6k in 24:12.70, earning 49th place overall. The rest of the female competitors, Pheline Mining (25:10.30), Giulianna Rivero (25:40.50) and Kady Schwietz (27:08.30) all earned personal bests during the meet.

Overall, both teams had multiple runners finish in the top half of the competition. The men’s team finished fifth of the 12 teams competing, earning 128 points overall and beating the next team by over 30 points. The women finished seventh out of 16 teams during their 6k, earning 233 points and beating out North Alabama by eight points.

This meet officially marked the end of both teams’ regular season. The Trojans will compete again at the Sun Belt Championships on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Graham Creek Nature Preserve in Foley, Alabama. The men’s 8k will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the women’s 5k starting at 9:15 a.m.

The championships will stream on ESPN+.