High Point Third In Big South Women’s Cross Country Championship

ROCK HILL, S.C. — The High Point University women’s cross country team placed third at the Big South Championship on Saturday in Rock Hill, S.C. Junior Kayleigh Perry placed fifth and senior Kelsey Hunt placed sixth to lead the Panthers.

“As a coach, you keep evaluating it and I think we had people come through, it just wasn’t enough today,” said HPU head coach Jenna Wrieden. “I would definitely highlight Kelsey Hunt, I couldn’t ask for a better senior leader and this was her best race of the season.

“Kayleigh ran very well. Audrey Malloy had her best race of the season and Katie Farina came through huge as our fifth runner. We’re going to continue to train hard with the goal of coming in top 15 at the NCAA Regional in two weeks.”

Perry placed fifth in 18:00.33 with Hunt right behind in 18:05.93. The two ran among the leaders throughout the race. Malloy placed 17th in 18:44.24 and sophomore Lauren Blackwell took 19th in 18:46.80. Farina placed 26th in 18:55.45.

Freshman Sarah Bode placed 28th with a time of 19:02.49 and sophomore Sarah Dorrell took 31st in 19:11.43, just ahead of junior Colleen Hollowood. Hollowood placed 32nd in 19:13.92. Freshman Erika Peoples placed 39th in 19:25.01 and senior Kelsey Paine placed 55th with a time of 19:59.43.

Liberty’s Jennifer Klugh won the race in 17:18.72, passing Winthrop’s Jeanne Stroud in the last mile. Stroud placed second in 17:24.03. It was Klugh’s third individual championship in a row.

Liberty won the meet with 40 points, getting their fifth championship in the last seven seasons. High Point was edged for second by Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers scored 72 followed by High Point with 73. Winthrop placed fourth with 136 followed by UNC Asheville (140), VMI (142) and Campbell (148). Charleston Southern and Radford tied for eighth with 239 points apiece followed by Gardner-Web (264), Longwood (300) and Presbyterian (389).

High Point has two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Southeast Regional on Nov. 9 in Charlotte, N.C. The 6,000-meter race begins at 1:15 p.m.