Hardeeville, SC – Berea College took a road trip to their most recent cross country meets all the way to South Carolina to compete in the Sandshark Invitational. The women placed 4th among 27 teams, many of whom are high ranking NAIA and Division II teams. This is the last 5k the women race this season, leading the many PR's and breaking two more school records that include fastest team average (19:12) as well as fasted total team time (1:36.00).
Out of all 10 competing runners, 8 managed to set new personal records. The Mountaineers were led by sophomore Dove Denigris who placed 16th and ran a time of 18:39. Following closely behind was freshman Jamie Welch who came in 20th place and ran 18:48. Senior Gabriella Sabino was the next to cross the finish line placing 29th, running 19:12. Erin Gonterman followed in 43th place running a time of 19:30. The next three runners to finish were all freshman including Ivanna Sabino coming in at 51st (19:49), Delaney Williams 60th (20:01), and Hayley Clark 79th (20:19).
Other finishers for Berea include Jenna Hughes placing 80th and running 20:21, Sydney Kyker 92nd (20:39), and Megan Hale 97th (20:42).
"This was a big race for the women's team, coming in we knew we were ready to run fast and they all just clicked on the same day and had a great team performance," stated Head Coach Jakubowski. "We really showed our depth this weekend putting our top 5 runners under 20 minutes and ten under 21 minutes!"
This race concludes regular season for the Mountaineers as the next race they take on is the USCAA National Championship in Virginia Beach on Friday, November 11th. The Mountaineers are the returning USCAA National Champions from 2015 and look to bring another championship to Berea.