Cross Country participates in Gulf South Conference championships

October 30, 2013 Chelsie Kenworthy Sports
Cross Country
Members of the men's cross country team compete Oct. 26 in the Gulf South Conference Championship held on Union's campus. | Submitted Photo
Cross Country
Members of the men’s cross country team compete Oct. 26 in the Gulf South Conference Championship held on Union’s campus. | Submitted Photo

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams at Union were successful at the Gulf South Conference Championships Oct. 26; the women’s team posted a runner-up finish in Birmingham, Ala., and the men’s team placed seventh in Jackson, Tenn.

Union’s women’s team came in three points behind the No. 1-ranked women’s team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the South Region, University of Alabama-Huntsville, running in a 5K race.

Union’s women’s team provided 11 of the 84 runners competing in the GSC championship and four of the top nine runners who placed in the race.

The top four runners include graduate student Beth Wilson, who placed fourth with a time of 19:20; senior Allison Martin, who placed seventh with a time of 19:24; sophomore BethAnne Davis, who placed eighth with a time of 19:25; and junior Audrey Hazlehurst, who placed ninth with a time of 19:26.

The men’s team finished seventh out of the 10 teams in the championship, running an 8K.

The men’s top runners are senior Anthony Aguinaga, who placed 19th with a time of 26:55, and freshman Garrett Wilson, who placed 20th with a time of 26:57.

Although this was the slowest time Aguinanga had all season “it gives me great reason to bounce back and run smarter and harder at nationals,” Aguinaga said. “While I was in the top five, I was thinking I need to stay tough, hang on and stay loose.”

Even though both of Union’s teams have the ability to claim the championship, because Union is still in the NCAA Div. II membership process, neither team can claim a championship yet.

Also, both teams placed first Oct. 19 at the 2013 Union University Cross Country Invitational.

The women’s top runners were graduate student Beth Wilson, who placed first with a time of 19:18, and junior Audrey Hazlehurst, who placed second with a time of 19:20.

The men’s top runners were senior Anthony Aguinaga, who placed first with a time of 25:26, and Garrett Wilson, who finished second with a time of 26:29.

Up next for both cross-country teams is the National Christian College Athletic Association National Championships, which will take place  Nov. 16 in Cedarville, Ohio.