NEWTON, N.C. --- Tusculum College's Simon Holzapfel won his fifth consecutive individual title in as many races this season as he captured first place honors at the Lenoir-Rhyne Cross Country Invitational Saturday morning at Southside Park.

Holzapfel won the 8,000-meter meet with a time of 25:10.3, while shattering the school record by a remarkable 43 seconds. He established the previous TC record of 25:53 at last year's South Atlantic Conference Championship, also held at Southside.

The Tusculum men finished ninth in the team competition as Holzapfel captured his school-record 15th individual title of his storied career. The 2009 SAC Runner of the Year finished 33 seconds ahead of runner-up Trey McCain of Mars Hill at the L-R Invitational.

Tusculum's Stephen Kinunda placed 57th with a time of 30:23.5, while Ben Hale finished in 32:21.7 for 66th place. Nathan Carver placed 69th with a time of 33:14.5, while Chad Shelton recorded a time of 33:42.0 to finish 73rd.

The Tusculum women had two runners compete in the 5K women's race as Jenny Grant posted a time of 22:26.7 to finish 44th, while Ashley Andrukonis placed 68th at 24:19.9.

The Pioneers now set their sights on the South Atlantic Conference championship on Nov. 6 at Wingate, N.C.

- TC -

Men's Team Results
Pl. Team Pts.
1 Mars Hill 40
2 Lees-McRae 64
3 Lenoir-Rhyne 68
4 Belmont Abbey 101
5 Brevard 149
6 Pfeiffer 180
7 Limestone 184
8 Newberry 191
9 TUSCULUM 213
- Erskine DNS

Tusculum Men's Results
Pl. Runner Time
1 Simon Holzapfel 25:10.3
57 Stephen Kinunda 30:23.5
66 Ben Hale 32:21.7
69 Nathan Carver 33:14.5
73 Chad Shelton 33:42.0

Women's Team Results
Pl. Team Pts.
1 Lenoir-Rhyne 48
2 Belmont Abbey 108
3 Charleston (W.Va.) 112
4 Mars Hill 113
5 Lees-McRae 142
6 USC Aiken 145
7 Limestone 146
8 Erskine 160
9 Brevard 202
10 Pfeiffer 206
11 Newberry 271
- TUSCULUM DNS

Tusculum Women's Results
Pl. Runner Time
44 Jenny Grant 22:26.7
68 Ashley Andrukonis 24:19.9