CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- The Tusculum University men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Queen City Invitational, hosted Friday afternoon by Queens University of Charlotte at the McAlpine Creek Park course.
Tusculum's men finished sixth out of 34 teams behind the performance of senior Alex Perez, who broke the school 8-kilometer record and finished 16th overall in a field of more than 300 runners. The Tusculum women placed 13th out of 32 teams, with sophomore Emily Coddington the top finisher in the 5-kilometer race with a time of 18:32.
Tusculum will resume competition on Friday, October 1 at the Walters State Invitational in Morristown.
MEN'S RECAP
Perez was clocked in 24:43 for the event, taking nearly two minutes off his previous best 8K of 26:27.4 set last week at the Converse Kickoff. Perez's time beat the previous school record of 24:58 set by Kyler Hodges at the 2019 Live in Lou Classic, and was fifth-best among the runners from the six SAC teams in competition at the meet.
Junior Caleb Archer finished 81st overall in 26:16, with freshman Bryson Livesay taking 87th place in 26:23. Freshman Evan Bruce cut almost four minutes off his time from Converse, running a 26:34 and placing 99th overall, followed by junior Antonio Aparicio in 102nd place in 26:35. Freshman Gideon Dowling turned in a time of 26:45 that placed him 115th overall, and senior Carson Walls placed 121st overall in 26:50. The final Tusculum runners were sophomore Ray Richardson, who was 125th overall in 26:54, and freshman Graham Aitken who was 167th in 27:44.
Milligan won the team championship with 33 points as its top five finishers were all inside the top 10. Queens (75 points) was second, followed by Anderson (97 points) in third. Concord (136 points) was fourth, with The Citadel (218 points) in fifth and Tusculum in sixth with 311 points. Isaac Prather of Concord won the men's individual race in 23:43, 26 seconds ahead of runner-up Jan Lukas Becker of Queens.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Coddington placed 29th overall out of 262 finishers, running 18:32 over the five kilometers. Graduate student Javiera Ortiz placed 93rd with a time of 19:58, with sophomore Judy Chellah in 100th place at 20:18. Freshman Celine McNally was clocked in 20:25 for 104th place, and junior Erin Bruce gave Tusculum its fifth runner in the top half of the field with a time of 20:26 that put her 107th overall.
Milligan made it a clean sweep by winning the women's team event, putting three runners in the top 10 and accumulating 58 points. Anderson was second with 83 points, followed by host Queens in third with 92 points. Queens also claimed the individual winner, with Fatima Alanis running 17:07 to beat out Lemi Wutz of Milligan by one second.
Queen City Invitational
at Charlotte, N.C.
MEN
Tusculum results: 16. Alex Perez, 24:43 (school record); 81. Caleb Archer, 26:16; 87. Bryson Livesay, 26:23; 99. Evan Bruce, 26:34; 102. Antonio Aparicio, 26:35; 115. Gideon Dowling, 26:45; 121. Carson Walls, 26:50; 125. Ray Richardson, 26:54; 167. Graham Aitken, 27:44.
Team standings (34 teams): 1. Milligan 33; 2. Queens 75; 3. Anderson 97; 4. Concord 136; 5. Citadel 218; 6. Tusculum 311.
WOMEN
Tusculum results: 29. Emily Coddington, 18:32; 93. Javiera Ortiz, 19:58; 100. Judy Chellah, 20:18; 104. Celine McNally, 20:25; 107. Erin Bruce, 20:26.
Team standings (32 teams): 1. Milligan 58; 2. Anderson 83; 3. Queens 92; 4. Lenoir-Rhyne 140; 5. Lynchburg 175; 13. Tusculum 396.
