The Tusculum College men's and Women's cross country teams competed in the Royal Cross Country Challenge Friday afternoon at McAlpine Park, hosted by Queens University on the site of next month's NCAA Division II Southeast Region meet.

Competing in the non-Division I class, the Tusculum women finished 19th out of 30 schools, while the Pioneer men were 25th out of 28 teams competing at the meet, which drew teams from Divisions I, II and III along with the NAIA.

Freshman Samantha Johns was the top finisher for the Pioneers with a time of 19:27.3 over the five-kilometer course, good for 50th place in the field of 240 runners. Sophomore Maggie Bernabei finished 104th with a time of 20:39.5, followed by senior Kim Brown in 144th place with a time of 21:42.5. Sophomore Paige Bible ran 21:57.0 for 149th place in the final standings, and junior Ashley Gregg was the fifth and final scorer as she was timed in 22:37.4 for 171th place.

The top collegiate finisher in the non-Division I class was Hannah Witt of King, who was timed in 17:22.6 for a 24-second victory over runner-up Jessy Scarpone of SCAD. Wingate won the team title with 43 points, followed by Savannah Art & Design (123), UNC Pembroke (137), King (140) and Queens (173).

With top runner David Cooper not competing at the meet, the Pioneer men were led by sophomore Lawson Burrow, who recorded a time of 28:48.2 for the eight-kilometer course to earn 118th place. Junior Zachary Simpson was 138th in 29:20.3, followed by freshman Cory Ramsey in 30:07.4 for 153rd place. Tusculum's lineup was rounded out by Isaac Ringley, who was 214th overall with a time of 36:44.8, and senior James Clay who was time in 37:49.8 and finished in 220th place.

King University won the non-Division I team competition with 62 points, followed by Mars Hill (93), GRU Augusta (105), UNC Pembroke (171) and Shorter (183). Felix Duchampt of the host Royals was the class winner with a time of 24:52.8, nearly 11 seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor.

Tusculum will begin preparations for the South Atlantic Conference championship meet, to be held Saturday, Oct. 26 at Black Mountain, North Carolina.