APSU Sports Information
Nashville, TN – Despite a number of setbacks which limited competitors, Austin Peay State University men and women’s cross country teams powered through at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, Saturday, at Percy Warner Park in Nashville.
The men’s team finished ninth in the 8K, while the women were 11th in the 5K.
Sophomore Wesley Gray posted the top performance by a Gov for the second-straight year, finishing in 28th with a time of 26:15.8.
Junior Nick Piskor finished 67th (28:36.4), senior Kyle Harmon was 70th (28:56.6), freshman Nash Young in 75th (29:27.7) and freshman Andrew Abel placed 79th (30:00.7).
“Despite having a very young team with two freshmen and two sophomores in the top five, the men made progress over a year ago,” head coach Doug Molnar said. “We still have a lot of growing to do, but this group can be a contender in the OVC.”
On the women’s team, junior Sarah Carpenter had a season-best run, going below the 20-minute mark for the first time this season (19:54.3). Junior Sarah-Emily Woodward came in 74th (20:36.7), followed by senior Unjala Lester (76th, 20:53.8) and Becca Wheeler (82nd, 21:47.8).
Rounding out the APSU order was newcomer Sarah Eskildson in 87th (23:29.2) and senior Hanna Wise in 88th (23:45.7).
“The women have been pretty beat up all year and today was no different as Becca was diagnosed with strep,” Molnar said. “I was really proud of the effort by Carpenter today. She ran a p.r., on a tough course at the conference meet, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Austin Peay will send two men’s runners – Gray and Smith – to the NCAA Southeast Regional, which takes place November 10th in Tallahassee, FL.
2016 OVC Cross Country Championship
Some action from the Governors appearance at the 2016 OVC Cross Country Championships.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14a8AsrYFYA[/youtube]
