Elon Cross Country Completes Charlotte Invitational Meet

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Elon cross country programs competed in the fourth annual Charlotte Invitational on Friday evening, Sept. 28. The women’s team, paced by sophomore Haylee Dawe, finished in fifth while the men’s team, led by fellow sophomore Luis Vargas, came in 11th at the course at McAlpine Park.

Dawe ran a personal-best time of 22:16.42, which now ranks fourth on the all-time program list. The Charlotte native came across the line in 17th place out 233 competitors at the meet on the women’s side as the Phoenix had a team score of 177. Sophomore Tereza Novotna also broke into the record books with a personal-best time of 22:23.73 owning the eighth best mark in the program after finishing 21st overall.

Elyse Bierut (22:48.58, 45th), Christine Pacewicz (22:54.37, 50th), Emily Tryon (23:01.43, 57th) all finished in the top-50 at the meet. Kaitlin Snapp and Allyson Oram rounded out the team scores in the Gold race with times of 23:24.49 and 23:27.74 respectively.

On the men’s side, Vargas was the team’s top runner for the second straight race with a time of 25:15.09 to finish in 30th place. Teammate Ari Rothschild was the next to cross the line for the maroon and gold in 70th and a time of 25:59.05. Junior Ben Perron ran a time of 26:11.83 followed by James Stevenson at a mark of 26:25.20.

Adam Bernstein crossed the line with a time of 26:37.88 followed by Ranley Gousse and Connor Mercurio with marks of 27:09.81 and 27:15.43 respectively.

The maroon and gold returns to the course in two weeks on October 12 at the Royal Cross Country Challenge. That meet will be held in Charlotte, N.C.