ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. --- Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel opened the cross country season in fine fashion by capturing first place honors at the Stampede at the Shoals Friday afternoon at Sycamore Shoals Park. The Tusculum men and Women's teams each finished third in their respective meets. (Men's Results | Women's Results)?

Holzapfel posted a time of 19:12.30 on the 6,000-meter course, while claiming his sixth individual title of his career. Rookie David Parham finished 27th in his collegiate debut meet with a time of 23:26.20. Ben Hale finished 29th at 24:07.30, while Elvis Machado posted a time of 26:26.20 to place 31st. Tyler Rogers (29:44.50, 36th) and Jason Seaton (31:29.30, 37th) rounded out the scoring the Pioneers as they tallied 85 total points.

Lees-McRae College won the team title with 20 points, while host Milligan College finished second with 49 points. Tusculum was third, followed by Emory & Henry College (98 pts.).

In the Women's race, graduate student Robin Smith had an outstanding debut meet for the Pioneers as she finished 10th with a time of 16:50.50 on the 4K layout. Junior Jessica Figler finished 20th at 20:22.40, while freshman Josie Honaker recorded a time of 22:64.80 to place 22nd. Kelsey Longwell finished 24th at 23:43:10, while senior Danielle Tanner, running in her first competitive meet, finished 25th at 24:23.30. Estafania Chavez rounded out the times for the Pioneers with 24:48.60 to finish 26th.

Milligan, ranked No. 12 in the nation (NAIA), won top team honors with 20 points. Lees-McRae was second with 40 points, followed by Tusculum (80 pts.) and Emory & Henry (DNS).

The Pioneers return to action next Saturday (Sept. 12) at the Wingate University Pre-Regional Meet on the Wingate, N.C. campus.

- TC -