AU men's cross-country team qualifies for nationals in Seattle; women finish seventh in region

Staff report

WINGATE, N.C.—The Augusta University men’s cross-country team qualified for the NCAA Division II national championships with a second-place finish in the Southeast Regional on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The Jaguars returned to the narrow and hilly course at Wingate, N.C., where they had competed in the regular season at the Bulldog Stampede. This time, they were racing for a regional championship and a spot in the NCAA Division II National Championships at Chamber's Creek Regional Park in University Place, Wash., on Dec. 2. 

The Jaguars were last in the nationals as a team in 2019, when they finished a program-best ninth. Overall, it is the fifth time the AU men’s team has advanced to the national championship race.

Last season, Kai Brickey made it to the nationals in Florida as an individual competitor.

The Jaguar put all their five scoring runners in the top 15 to garner 58 points Saturday, earning them a second-place finish behind host Wingate at the regional championship meet. 

Also on Saturday, Nov. 19, the AU women took seventh place in the regional.

This regional performance was everything that the Jags were hoping for as their tight five-man spread made it difficult for rival teams such as Anderson and Catawba to get any runners past the Jaguar pack. The men had a minuscule 8.4 second spread from their first to fifth runner.

This was the tightest spread that Augusta has ever seen in its school history, and this performance was delivered on one of the toughest 10-kilometer courses on the East Coast.

Senior Hans Troyer led the Jaguar men with a PR of 31 minutes and 39.6 seconds, good for ninth place. Troyer was followed by Kai Brickey in 10th with a 31:41.0, Avery Jaynes in 12th with a 31:43.6, Patrick Motes in 13th with a 31:45.6 and Thomas Rischar in 14th with a 31:48.0. 

“It is amazing to see just how similar the fitness of our top five guys are when it’s this late in the season,” said Troyer. “We work so well together and push each other to the limits during the race.”

With a team that’s so close in fitness, Coach Jacob Burgamy has now seen the men’s program led by three different athletes throughout this one season. At Virginia Tech and Queens, sophomore sensation Motes led the team, followed by the PBC Championships where senior veteran Brickey led the Jags to a perfect sweep, and now Hans Troyer holds the flame on their journey to nationals.

“Avery told me after the race that there was a point where he really wanted to fall back, but the entire reason he didn’t was because our pack was right there,” said Burgamy, in his first season as the AU leader. “That accountability to each other and the team is one of the key benefits that having that pack does for us.”

Rischar, a sophomore, remembered all too well how the team came up one point short to qualify for the 2021 national championship. Last year, Rischar was the team’s fifth man on a very inexperienced and young team. This year, he returns with far more wisdom and training under his belt to secure a 14th-place finish to round out the Jaguars’ regional scorers. 

“It feels like a weight being lifted off my shoulders,” said Rischar. “We have waited a year for this and to be able to get the job done so smoothly this past Saturday was a testament to how well we have prepared for Regionals.

Andrew Todd and Carlos Rodriguez will also make the trip to Seattle.

Joshua Chepkesir of UNC Pembroke finished first in 31:04.94. Oliver Way of Wingate was second in 31:24.03.

On the women’s side, this was a step in the right direction for a very bright future. All seven competing runners walked away with new personal records for the 6K. 

AU has one of the youngest teams in the Southeast Region, and to see the Jaguars outperforming themselves time and time again really shows what kind of team they’re going to become. 

Freshman Madison Kennedy pulled off a major performance to overtake her upperclassmen as Augusta’s new No. 1 with 35th-place finish in a time of 23:19.2, which is a 63-second improvement from the last time she ran this very same course just last month. 

“To represent Augusta at the regionals cross-country championship was amazing,” said Kennedy. “I was just glad to be able to race alongside Riley and Cassie because they are such talented runners said Kennedy.“

Following up right behind her in 36th place with a time of 23:20.9 was junior, Cassie Lagan.

“It was amazing to see Madison up with me and Riley in the second half of the race,” said Lagan. “We were both struggling and to have Madison there pushing us all along made a huge impact. For the three of us to finish within ten seconds of each other is something we’ve been wanting to see this whole season.”

The Wingate women’s team finished in a similar fashion to their men’s program with a first-place finish to win the meet and garner an automatic bid to the national championship. 

“The women have improved a ton this season, so I think the main thing that we need to do is continue to be consistent in training like we have,” said Burgamy.

Togetherness, as in running in a tightly grouped pack, has been the hallmark of this Jaguar men’s cross-country team; here, Andrew Todd and Patrick Motes (34) hug after finishing the Southeast Regional. At the top of the page, from left to right, Kai Brickey, Thomas Rischar, Avery Jaynes, Hans Troyer and Patrick Motes take their place on the podium as the regional runner-up. (photos by Churchill Ezeokonkwo)