Hardeeville, SC- Berea College took a road trip to travel to South Carolina for their most recent cross country meet, competing in the Sandshark Invitational. The men placed 2nd in a strong field of 23 teams finishing with 82 points, only 8 points behind NAIA's 15th ranked SCAD-Savannah. The men ran their fastest team average and fastest total team time for an 8k this season, running a team average of 26:00 and total team time of 2:10:02.
A total of 7 out of the 11 competing runners for the Mountaineers managed to run a new personal record time. The Mountaineers were led by sophomore Isaiah Dodson who finished in 7th place with a time of 25:22. Following closely behind was junior Dylan Watkins, finishing in 11th place with a time of 25:47. The next mountaineer to cross the finish line was senior Jeremy Johnson, who finished in 14th place with a time of 25:55. The fourth mountaineer to finish was freshman Dakota White, finishing in 28th place with a time of 26:26. Finishing closely behind White was senior Casey Monti, who finished in 32nd place with a time of 26:30.
Other finishers for the men include Kyle Young 50th (26:53), Corbin Flege 69th (27:20), Landon Bond 75th (27:27), Nathan Smith 84th (27:38), Raymond McKinney 105th (28:12), and Edwin Silva 129th (29:04).
"We have talked all season long about the importance of closing the gap between the 3rd and 4th runners," stated Assistant Coach Jakubowski. "All season the gap between the 3rd and 4th runners was a minute. This weekend we only had a 1:07 gap between our 1st and 5th runner and we were able finish well as a team because of that. I am proud of the progress this team has made and I look forward to seeing what they can do at Nationals."
Berea only has one meet left in the season as they will travel to Virginia Beach to compete in the USCAA National Championship on Friday, November 11. The Mountaineers were the 2015 USCAA National Champions and they look to bring the title back to Berea again this fall.