Five Winthrop Male Runners Finish In Top 12 While Carey Phillips Claims Women's Individual Title
ROCK HILL, SC—The Winthrop women's and men's cross country teams opened the 2009 season in grand fashion as the men finished first and the women finished second at the Western Carolina Invitational held on Friday afternoon in Cullowhee, NC.
Four schools competed in the meet which saw the women run two miles while the men ran a 5K race. In addition to Winthrop and the host WCU Catamounts, the other two schools included Big South Conference members UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb.
Senior Carey Phillips (Chesnee, SC) led the Winthrop women as she captured the individual title in the 2-mile run. For Phillips, it was her first intercollegiate meet title. The Lady Eagles finished with 44 points while Western Carolina finished first with 38 points. GWU compiled 57 points to finish third while UNCA finished with 107.
On the men's side, the Eagles placed five runners in the top 12 finishers, led by sophomore Adam Freudenthal's third place finish with a time of 16:02 for the 5K.
Winthrop's men totaled 34 points as they squeaked past WCU which had 37. UNCA nipped GWU 77 to 78 for third and fourth place.
"Our women looked very aggressive and very good," said Winthrop head coach Ben Paxton. "That bodes well for the next two months. Once Carly Moss, who is out with a virus, is back to full health we are going to be a dominant team to reckon with in the conference race."
Paxton said he was very pleased with the performance of the men's team which started four freshmen and four sophomores. "It is always good to open the season with a victory especially with the youth of our men's team. They remind me so much of our 1998 team which went on to win back-to-back Big South titles when they were juniors and seniors."
Winthrop will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 19, when it hosts the annual Asics/Winthrop Invitational at the Winthrop farm course.