MARYVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's cross country team captured its second title of the season by winning the Maryville Invitational Saturday morning.
Sophomore David Cooper earned his second victory of the season and third of his career by covering the 8-kilometer course in 27:29, over a minute ahead of freshman teammate Lawson Burrow who took second place in 28:46.
As a team, Tusculum had five runners finish in the top 15 and scored 36 points, well ahead of runner-up Virginia-Wise (67) and third-place Emory & Henry (71).
The Pioneer women placed four runners in the top 20 and finished third with 66 points, behind team champion Covenant (30) and host Maryville (64). Freshman Maggie Bernabei earned a fifth-place finish to lead the Pioneers, coming home in a time of 27:18.
Cooper, who led the Pioneers to a team victory by winning at the Warren Wilson Invitational two weeks ago, has finished in the top five in four consecutive events. Burrow posted his third top-10 finish of the season and was joined in the top 10 by sophomore Zachary Simpson, who was seventh in 29:48.
Kekona Soon placed 11th for the Pioneers with a time of 30:41, and Elijah Minter rounded out the scoring for the Pioneers with a 15th-place finish in 31:23.
Joining Bernabei in the top 20 for the Pioneer women were Jenny Grant, who finished 11th in 18:59, along with Paige Bible and Allison Hall who took 16th and 17th, respectively, with a time of 29:29. Kim Brown was the final scorer for the Pioneers, crossing the line in 22nd place in 30:37.
Tusculum will be back in action in two weeks when it hosts the South Atlantic Conference Championships on campus on Oct. 20.
- TC -
Men's Team Results
Pl. Team Pts
1 TUSCULUM 36
2 Virginia-Wise 67
3 Emory & Henry 71
4 Covenant 93
5 Maryville 118
6 Gordon State 134
7 Bluefield 144
8 LaGrange 202
- Johnson Univ. DNS
- Kentucky Christian DNS
Tusculum Men's Individual Results
Pl. Runner Time
1 David Cooper 27:29
2 Lawson Burrow 28:46
7 Zachary Simpson 29:48
11 Kekona Soon 30:41
15 Elijah Minter 31:23
42 George Blalock 36:01
Women's Team Results
Pl. Team Pts
1 Covenant 30
2 Maryville 64
3 TUSCULUM 66
4 Gordon State 90
5 Virginia-Wise 111
6 LaGrange 151
- Bluefield DNS
- Johnson Univ. DNS
- Emory & Henry DNS
Tusculum Women's Individual Results
Pl. Runner Time
5 Maggie Bernabei 27:18
11 Jenny Grant 28:59
16 Paige Bible 29:29
17 Allison Hall 29:29
22 Kim Brown 30:37
31 Lakesa Hendrix 31:21
33 Ashley Gregg 31:44
41 Carol Hogan 33:05
