College Men’s Cross Country Results – Guilford’s Goncarovs Wins Seahawk Invitational

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Guilford’s Andris Goncarovs (Ithaca, N.Y./Lehman Alternative Community School (SUNY Buffalo)), Chad Norton (Walled Lake, Mich./Walled Lake) and David Cason (Clemmons, N.C./West Forsyth) went 1-2-3 in the college division of the Seahawk Cross Country Invitational Friday to help the Quakers place second in the seven-team field. Guilford scored 70 points, trailing NCAA Division II UNC Pembroke and one point better than the club team from North Carolina State University.

Goncarovs blistered the fast five-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 29.82 seconds to win the 64-man race. His personal-best time beat 63 other runners, is the second-fastest time in school history and was less than a second behind the Campbell University’s Morgan Timiney, who won the three-team NCAA Division I race. The victory is the second of Goncarovs’ career.

In the 2012 Seahawk Invitational, Goncarovs placed second only to a runner from East Carolina University when the university and college division teams ran a single race together. The following day, Goncarovs helped save a drowning man during a team beach outing near Wilmington.

Norton, who ran the top college time at last week’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Preview meet, was just under seven seconds behind Goncarovs. He edged his teammate Cason by just over two ticks in 15:36.50. Cason hit the line in 15:38.86, a new personal best for five kilometers.

Freshman Nick Reynolds had the Quakers’ fourth-fastest time (18:28.09) and placed 30th overall. Teammate Patrick Westervelt (Oak Ridge, N.C./Northwest Guilford) followed nine places later in a personal-best 18:52.32.

Coach Danny Cash’s team runs again Sept. 28 at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational.