Tallulah Falls, GA- The men's cross country team headed to the state of Georgia as they ran in the USA South Conference Championship this afternoon hosted by Piedmont College at the Tallulah Falls School Farm Course. The team was looking to win their first conference championship as a member of the USA South.
The day started with the 8k race, which saw five Mountaineers be the first to cross the finish line. Coming in first out of 51 runners with his third straight win and fifth overall was sophomore Logan McKenzie with a time of 25:57. The next four runners to finish the race were sophomores Tanner Carson and Landon Bond, junior Kyle Young and freshman Kerry Jones with times of 26:33, 26:41, 27:07 and 27:17, respectively. Berea also had the 13th place and 14th finishers in Zachary Raab (27:49) and Emmanuell Kemei (27:50) along with Corbin Flege at 16th with a time of 27:58. The finishes of the Mountaineers gave the team a total of 15 points, blowing out the second place team by 51 points and winning their first ever USA South Conference Championship.
With their top five finish, McKenzie, Carson, Bond, Young and Jones earn places on the 2017 USA South Men's Cross Country All-Conference First Team while Raab and Kemei earned places on the All-Conference Second Team. Flege's finish in the race gave him a place on the Honorable Mention portion of the All-Conference Team, giving Berea eight of the 19 spots on the All-Conference teams, the most of any team in the conference. Along with being All-Conference First Team, McKenzie was named USA South Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year. Head coach Mike Johnson was named USA South Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year by the conference. Raab also was honored with a spot on the All-Sportsmanship Team.
After a week off from competition, the Mountaineers turn their focus to the NCAA Division III Regional Championships in Newport News, VA. The race is scheduled for Friday, November 10th.