MONTEVALLO, Alabama --- The Tusculum College men's and women's cross country teams competed at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship Saturday morning at the University of Montevallo.
The Pioneer men finished in 21st place out of 24 competing schools, while the Tusculum women came in 25th out of 27 schools in the final standings.
MEN'S RESULTS
The Pioneers' top finishers wre junior Jacob Cutshall and freshman Tommy Veerkamp, who finished two seconds apart in 95th and 97th place, respectively. Cutshall covered the 10-kilometer course in 34:09.19, while Veerkamp had a final time of 34:11.15. Cutshall's time was nearly three minutes faster than his performance at the 2014 regional held on the same course, and his placement was 28 positions better than two years ago.
Freshman Matthew Mayes was the Pioneers' third finisher as he placed 134th with a time of 35:29.84, followed in 159th place by Will Noel with a time of 38:00.57. Tusculum's fifth and final scorer was freshman Jeremy Focareto, who was clocked in 41:53.46 for 167th place.
Mount Olive had all five of its scorers in the top 25, including race winner Adam Craig, to claim the regional championship with 57 points. Mars Hill was second with 77 points, followed by Queens (101), Flagler (133) and Augusta (177) in the top five. Craig's time of 29:49.03 was 13 seconds faster than runner-up Timothy Asis of Young Harris, with Jonathan Dahlke of Mount Olive placing third.
WOMEN'S RESULTS
Freshman Emily Stoklosa was the top finisher for the Pioneers with a time of 25:00.44 over the 6-kilometer course, good for 107th in the final standings. Sophomore Mackenzie Newsome was timed in 25:39.77 and was 124th overall, followed by sophomore Makenzi Alley in 132nd place at 25:54.84.
Senior Pauline Muiruri was 135th overall in a time of 26:02.64, while the fifth-place finisher for the Pioneers was senior Ashley Andrukonis in 26:25.64. Also competing for the Pioneers were freshman Brooklyn Smith, who was 159th overall in 27:00.96, followed closely by sophomore Deondra Thomas who was timed in 27:04.29 and finished in 161st place.
The host Falcons of the University of Montevallo had five finishers in the top 15 and won the team title with 41 points, followed by Queens University of Charlotte which had four runners in the top 10 and collected 47 points. Wingate (98 points), Anderson (170) and North Georgia (199) completed the top five. Leah Hanle of Mount Olive was the individual winner with a time of 21:03.65 that beat runner-up Cheyenne Thompson of Montevallo by nearly 23 seconds.
