The Chattanooga women's cross country team brought home fourth and had four individual personal records Sunday morning at the Southern Conference Championships at Johns Island, S.C. The Mocs men's team placed sixth overall.
Emma Russum led the women in the 5-kilometer race at Johns Island County Park, finished 18th overall with a time of 18:05.2. Freshmen Maddie Wheatcroft and Leah Boyd crossed the line next for the Mocs with Wheatcroft posting a PR time of 18:18.1. Boyd was 30th at 18:39.6.
Senior Faith Brown was the fourth scoring runner Chattanooga with a PR time of 18:45.5 in her final SoCon Championship race. Also posting a PR was freshman Lexi Foley who was the final scoring runner for the Mocs with a time of 19:26.4.
"The women's race was a fast and aggressive start," Mocs head coach Andy Meyer said. "Emma ran a very smart race and stayed just off the pace and improved 7 spots over last year. We got a great race from Faith in her last conference race. The talented freshman of Maddie, Leah, Lexi, Andrea [Ellis] and Micheala [Dabney] all did great for their first conference meet. They have been so solid all season and performed so well today."
Furman claimed a 10th consecutive title, extending the women's record for wins, with a team score of 15. Samford was second with 62 points followed by ETSU with 82. The Mocs had 141 points and Western Carolina was fifth with 157 points.
The Paladins finished in the Top Six spots with the seventh runner taking eighth overall. Furman's Bethany Graham claimed the individual title with a meet record 16:22.3, edging the previous best time set by Samford's Karisa Nelson (16:33.62) in 2016.
In the men's race, sophomore Aaron Isbell finished first for Chattanooga with a time of 25:20.4 with Johnathan Boyd not far behind with a time of 25:36.6 in his final SoCon Championship race. Also in his final SoCon meet was Ryan Phillips who was third for the Mocs with a 36th place finish at 25:55.9.
Jasper Wilson was the fourth UTC runner to finish with a time of 26:09.3 and sophomore Kaigen Mulkey was the final scoring runner for the Mocs posting a PR time of 26:13.8.
"It was a very fast race," Meyer said. "The first mile was blazing fast. Everyone went through with their fastest time for the year and after that it was a war of attrition. Aaron and Jonathan ran well up front slowly picking people off. Ryan ran well for his last race. Everyone across the board improved their placing from last year and jumped up 2 spots."
Furman claimed a Southern Conference record 10th straight league title, tying William & Marry (1966-75) who did it first. All five scoring Paladins placed in the Top 10 with Furman's Dylan Schubert taking fist in a time of 23:41.5. ETSU's Evan Guzman was second followed by UNCG's Joseph Thoma. Furman had the next two finishers.
"Both programs did well today," Meyer concluded. "Both programs improved over last year's placing."
Up next for the Mocs is the NCAA South Region Meet on November 11 in Huntsville, Ala.
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