The Kennesaw State Cross Country teams fiercely competed in the ASUN Cross Country Championships located at John Hunt XC Course on Saturday, Oct. 29.
The women’s team ranked fourth place in the championship while the men’s placed ninth. KSU’s Caroline Timm and Sarah Hendrick earned big successes from the tournament. Timm earned ASUN First Team All-Conference while Hendrick received the ASUN Second Team All-Conference honors.
Timm finished in fifth place with a time of 16:46.80 in the women’s 5k race. Hendrick marked a completion time of 17:13.20 finishing 14th in the race. Fellow Owls Anna James ended with a time of 17:38.70 securing 22nd place while Taylor White completed in a time of 17:49.0 receiving 32nd place. Wrapping up for the Owls, Zoe Smith concluded in 37th place with a time of 17:54.60.
In the men’s 5k race, Koi Williams led the Owls, finishing in 24:47.20 to place 36th. Grant Crabtree (25:00.00) and Jack Stansell (25:09.80) respectively placed 44th and 47th after completing the race. To secure 56th Gavin Frick ran the race finishing at 25:59.00. Closing out for the scoring for the Owls, Joseph Pontrelli earned 64th in a time of 25:48.20.
“Since it was my last race, I felt as if I had to put everything plus more for my team,” Williams said. “Everyone raced their hearts out. Whether they felt like it was up to their standards or not, they ran great today. I wouldn’t want to run for any other team or coach I’m proud to be called an Owl!”Timm also chimed in noting, “I was really happy to represent Kennesaw State in the top five today.” Timm continued saying, “Having run this course before, it’s nice to see the objective improvements being made. It wasn’t my best race, but I can’t complain about the results. Ready to keep working hard towards regionals in two weeks.”
Highlighting the major successes of the team collectively, Timm expressed, “Today we had some really impressive performances by the middle of the pack. It’s exactly what we needed to do to step it up as a team but unfortunately just wasn’t enough to break into the top three.”
KSU hoped for better results but did not forget to celebrate the achievements made along the way. “Although it’s frustrating, we have to be happy with the overall progress we made,” Timm said. “Today was about not holding back and I’m proud that most of the team put that into action to see what they’re truly capable of.”
“I am really proud of how our teams raced today,” Head Coach of Cross Country, Adam Bray said. “They really went for it and competed with nothing to lose. Congrats to Caroline Timm and Sarah Hendrick for earning first-team and second-team all-conference. We were not at full strength on either squad, but everyone stepped up today, so from a coaching perspective I could not be any prouder of both of these teams.”
On Friday, Nov. 11, KSU will travel to Huntsville, Alabama for the NCAA South Regional.
