AU women finish third in XC championship; Flagler, Whitehead take the crowns
By Joshua Picklesimer | Sports writer
BEECH ISLAND, S.C.—Led by Cassie Lagan and Riley Triplett, the Augusta University women’s team placed third in the Peach Belt Cross-Country Championship on Saturday, Nov. 5.
The race was held at Redcliffe Plantation and it was a good day for a race, at least from the runners’ perspective. Just before the race, it started to rain lightly. While the fans watching were groaning, Triplett, AU’s sophomore runner, was content with the change in weather.
“When it started to rain, and everyone looked at each other and we were like, ‘Yes,’” Triplett said, “because it cooled off the air and made the ground softer.”
It seemed like the rain benefited the Jaguars because Triplett placed fourth overall after being toward the back of the second pack for much of the race.
Teammate Lagan, who happens to be Triplett’s roommate, finished in second to Triplett’s fourth. Flagler, led by Monique Whiteman, took home the title with 27 points. North Georgia was second at 49. Augusta followed behind with 57.
The Saints’ Whiteman ran the 5-kilometer course in 18:35.5. Lagan posted a time of 18:47.7, while Triplett got her first sub-19 competitive run in with an 18:54.2.
Whiteman also won the award for PBC women’s runner of the year as well as being on the all-conference sportsmanship team. She dominated the competition and throughout the entire race had a commanding lead over Lagan most of the way.
“Overall, my strategy was to stay in a pack for the first lap and then in the second lap to just go for it,” Whiteman said.
Marissa Kemp from Flagler finished third in 18:49.4, and Angel Valeria of North Georgia was fifth in 18:55.3.
Lagan never let Whiteman get too far ahead and seemed to close well.
“Whiteman was a lot faster than we all thought, so our initial strategy didn’t really work,” Lagan said. “But if the race was longer, I might have been able to catch her but she ran great today.”
The Augusta runners now know what the regionals will be like in two weeks at Wingate. Jaguar Coach Jacob Burgamy and the team are going to prepare and train for the regionals the next two weeks.
Contact Joshua Picklesimer at jpicklesimer@augusta.edu.
AU sophomore Riley Triplett crosses the finish line in fourth place with a time of 18 minutes, 54 seconds—her PR in the 5K race. She and Cassie Lagan helped the Jaguars to a third-place finish on a rainy Saturday morning at Redcliffe Plantation. At the top of the page, Lagan finished strong to take second place. (photos by Madison Keel)
