CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Elon cross country runner Luis Vargas established a new school record to help the men’s program to a fourth place standing at the Queens Royal XC Challenge at McAlpine Creek on Friday afternoon. Flores ran a time of 24:16.0 in the meet a crossed the line in fifth out of 189 competitors.
Vargas previously held the school mark in the 8K with a time of 24:49.07 that he set in last season’s Southern Conference championships. The Angier, N.C. native improved on that time by nearly 30 seconds in today’s performance.
The men were two points off from finishing in the top three of the 21-team field, just edged out by Spartanburg Methodist 98-96.
Ben Parron was the next to cross the line on the men’s side as the junior had a time of 25:29.4 and finished 20th overall. Parron just edged out teammate Ari Rothschild who came in 22nd with a mark of 24:30.3.
Junior James Stevenson and sophomore Adam Bernstein also crossed the line a close distance from each other at 32nd and 35th place respectively. Stevenson ran the course in a time of 25:46.5 while Bernstein was three seconds off pace at 25:49.9.
Reed Payne finished in the top 50 of the meet with a time of 26:06 and 43rd overall. Senior Sean Martyn would also get under the 27-minute mark with a time of 26:34.1.
On the women’s side, the maroon and gold was seventh overall in the 25-team field with Erin MacBeth leading the way with a time of 18:41.9 in the 5K race. The women’s program was competing without its normal top seven runners as that group prepares for the NCAA Pre-National meet tomorrow, Oct. 13, in Louisville, Ky.
MacBeth was in 41st overall out of 217 runners. Teammate Carolin McCaslin was the next for the Phoenix at a mark of 18:51.2 and 50th overall just five seconds ahead of Jenny Gallagher, who crossed the line at the 53rd position with a time of 18:56.4.
The remaining members of the squad will be on the course tomorrow at Louisville at E.P. ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park. Elon will have runners competing in both the women’s red and black races, scheduled to begin tomorrow at 10:15 and 11:30 a.m. respectively.