The Kennesaw State men’s and women’s cross-country teams both finished in the top five Saturday, Oct. 29, in the ASUN Championship at Milliken Research Park.
The Kennesaw State women’s cross-country team finished in fourth place at the ASUN Championship behind a strong performance from senior Kidan Kidane, who finished in second place. This is the 13th race in a row the women’s team was lead by Kidane.
The women’s team finished with a record low for points (33) since 2009.
Kidane, who finished with a time of 17:72.07, recorded the second fastest time KSU’s 5K history and the fourth fastest time in ASUN Championship history. These records earned her ASUN First Team All-Conference honors.
“Kidane was so ready for this race,” said head coach David Poteet. “I could see it in her workouts, body language and on her face.”
“She will go down as one of the greatest Owl distance runners ever,” he said.
Kidane topped the Owls’ scorecard with her stellar performance, followed by freshman Lexi Froh, who finished 20th with a time of 18:40.19. Sophomore Caitlyn Farrell finished 23rd just five seconds later.
The team’s effort as a whole gave the Owls a respective fourth place finish at ASUN Championships, KSU’s best finish on that course since 2014.
For the men’s cross-country team at the ASUN Championship, the team finished behind junior transfer Paul Schupp in the 8K race. Schupp finished 19th with a time of 26:00.71, beating his personal record by 14 seconds.
Freshman Max Warner also broke his personal record, finishing at 26:53.12 in 29th place. Freshman Will Hasse (26:54.70) also beat his personal best and finished in 31st.
The Owls finished in fifth place overall.
Poteet was pleased with both of the teams’ performances.
“[I’m] proud of them, and the additions to next years team will make us more competitive in the conference,” Poteet said.
KSU will use the momentum from a solid performance at the ASUN Championships to improve its performance at the next meet.
The Owls cross-country teams will head down to Tallahassee, Florida, for the NCAA South Regionals at Apalachee Regional Park on Friday, Nov. 11.
The women’s 6K begins at 8:30 a.m. and the men’s 10K starts at 9:30 a.m.
