CULLOWHEE, NC--Winthrop opened its 2010 cross country campaign with strong performances by both the men's and women's teams at the Western Carolina Invitational on Friday night.
Both teams claimed runner-up finishes while freshman Jeanne Stroud ran the 2 mile race in 11:40 to finish just 4 seconds behind the female individual champion Morgan Turner of Western Carolina.. Stroud was joined by fellow freshman Shayna Jenkins (8th), Senior Carly Moss (11th), freshman Lisa Nichols (12th) and sophomore Jen Schofield (17th). The team scored 50 points while WCU totaled 41 points to claim first place. The Eagles finished ahead of Big South foes Gardner Webb (60), UNC Ashville (75) as well as Mars Hill (124) and Warren Wilson (173).
The men were led by junior Adam Freudanthal who duplicated his runner finish from last year with a 5K time of 15:44 just 11 seconds behind champion Josey Weaver of WCU. Freshman
Steve Rivard finished 11th followed by sophomore AJ Fitzsimons (12th), junior
Kyle Carufe (16th) and sophomore
Adam Leroux (21st) to total 62 points. WCU totaled 39 points to make a clean sweep in its own invitational. Winthrop placed ahead
of Mars Hill (66), UNC Asheville (94), Montreat (148), Gardner Webb (154) and Warren Wilson (183).
"I am real pleased with how our ladies performed," said head coach
Ben Paxton. "We have never had more than three to four healthy athletes at one time this year. We held out two ladies and everyone seemed to step it up. Jeanne really put it out there as a freshman and I can not wait to see how she and a healthy group perform this year."
The men ran tired, according to Paxton.. "We have a much longer race coming up (8K) so we are sacrificing some early rest to get after our training. I feel good about where our men are right now. You can tell that Freudanthal is older and can handle the early work load. The others will catch up by mid season."
The Eagles will be back in action in two weeks when they host the 23rd Asics Winthrop Invitational at the Winthrop Lake Course on September 18 at 9 a.m..
