Greensboro, N.C. – After being selected to finish third in the preseason conference coaches poll, the Lions Cross Country team rose to the occasion and exceeded expectations Saturday taking home second in the USA South conference championship meet. The women’s team, despite racing with only three of their top five runners, were able to finish in fifth place and have finished in the top five in each league championship since joining the USA South in 2012.
For the men, two individuals finished inside the top seven earning first team all-conference honors with Cody Parker finishing 4th overall in 27:59.93 while Bryce Thorson was 7th with a time of 28:46.99, marking a new personal record for Thorson as he cut 34 seconds of his previous PR set at Maryville earlier this season. Thorson has improved by 2:43 throughout the season from his 8k time at the Truett McConnell Invitational through the conference meet.
Just behind Thorson in 8th place was Cory McClung with another personal best running 29:09.44 and following him was teammate Esteban Salazar in 9th, shaving eight seconds off his lifetime best set in the team’s last meet at Berry, with a 29:21.51. Alec Jameson came in 13th running under 30:00 for the first time as he crossed the line in 29:43.32, 37 seconds faster than his time at the Berry Invitational which was his personal best at the time. McClung, Salazar and Jameson all earned second team all-conference honors finishing between 8th-14th.
The men’s team set the school record with the fastest team average time ever at 29:00 and had all five Lions across the line under 30:00 for the first time. Rily Passini also set a new lifetime best in the championship meet finishing 29th with a 32:41.32, cutting 1:28 off his personal record as he has taken almost seven minutes off his time from the first 8k of the season.
On the women’s side, Carrie Ruis paced the women and finished as a first team all-conference selection coming in 6th with a 25:33.58, shaving five seconds off her personal record set at the Berry Invitational two weeks ago. Ruis was followed by freshman Ashley Brunner who earned second team all-conference, just one spot outside of the first-team selections in 8th place, running a lifetime best 25:49.08, moving into fifth in the Lady Lion all-time record book in the 6k.
Senior Rachel Tolliver finished her final conference meet in 24th place crossing the line at 27:40.82 while freshman Tiffany Murillo finished 61st with a time of 32:16.45, setting a new record for herself by 1:54. Fellow freshman Andrea Bell ran her first conference championship in 34:09.44.
For seniors Bryce Thorson, Alec Jameson and Rachel Tolliver this marked the final conference championship of their career with all three finishing faster than they did a season ago at the USA South Championship. In total at the USA South Championship meet, 8 Piedmont cross country athletes ran personal bests, five on the men’s side and three on the women’s. Twelve of thirteen athletes set new personal bests during the 2014 season under first year Head Coach Jeff Jenkins.
