Jaguar men, Taylor win PBC XC championships

Coach Adam Ward led the Jaguar men’s team to yet another Peach Belt Conference title. (staff photo)

Staff report |

The Augusta University men’s cross-country team successfully defended its Peach Belt Conference championship Saturday, and AU’s Mackenzie Taylor claimed the women’s individual title at the University of North Georgia.

Senior Jacob Poston led a strong finish by the AU men, who had five runners in the top seven and six in the top 10. The Jaguars finished with 24 points, compared to 47 for second-place Flagler. UNC Pembroke, led by race winneer Joshua Chepkesir, was third with 64 points.

Coach Adam Ward’s Jaguars won the PBC title for the third time in four years.

Chepkesir became the first men’s cross-country runner in conference history to win the individual championship three straight years. The junior from Kenya broke the North Georgia Cross Country course record and eclipsed his own PBC Championships record with a time of 23 minutes, 41.83 seconds for 8 kilometers.

Poston was second in 24:23.81 with teammate Brennan Silliman in fourth, Hunter Kimball in fifth, Hans Troyer sixth, Kai Brickey seventh and Chandler Kennedy 10th.

Flagler was led by Marcus Graham, who finished third in a time of 24:56.11.

Poston, Chepkesir and Graham were named co-runners of the year. Poston led six Jaguars on the all-conference team, including Silliman, Kimball, Troyer, Brickey and Kennedy.

AU’s Carlos Rodriguez was named to the all-sportsmanship team, and Ward was named men’s coach of the year.

On the women’s side, Taylor ran away from the field and completed her season with four wins in four outings. Taylor set a PBC Championship record with a time of 17:07.86 for 5K. Taylor’s 54-second margin over second-place Na’ilah Allen of Clayton State also established a PBC record. Taylor beat the previous record of 17:18 set by Georgia College’s Katherine Yost in 2017.

Taylor was named PBC runner of the year, all-conference and all-sportswoman. And for the second straight year, AU had the PBC’s top women’s runner. Last year’s champion was Micah Weathers.

Flagler won the women’s team title, edging North Georgia. Both teams finished with 49 points, but the Saints won the tiebreaker for their third straight team title. UNC Pembroke was third and Augusta fourth.

There is no regional or national meet this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.