Men's cross-country finishes fourth in regional; Brickey and Taylor qualify for nationals

By Katron Hugee | Sports writer

The Augusta University men’s cross-country team took fourth place in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Milliken Research Park in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Nov. 6.

Junior Kai Brickey led the way for the Jaguars with a 13th-place finish. Brickey ran the 10-kilometer course in 31 minutes, 26.7 seconds. There were 161 runners in the men’s race.

“I thought today was amazing,” said Brickey. The atmosphere, weather and competition was on point and it was a blast racing toe to toe with the best in the South East.”

Brickey advances to the Divison II National Championship at Abbey Golf Course in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 20.

“This was a big confidence booster for me,” said Brickey. I surprised myself a little today so going into nationals, I now know how to push myself out there more. I have more confidence in myself and can’t wait to see what I can do on the national stage.”

In Spartanburg, senior Chandler Kennedy finished 15th in 31:44.7 ahead of junior Hans Troyer who was 16th with time of 31:47.3. Freshmen Patrick Motes (30th, 32:25.0), Thomas Rischar (35th, 32:39.5) and Avery Jaynes (39th, 32:47.8) finished next, followed by sophomore Carlos Rodriguez (49th, 33:17.4).

Wingate won the men’s title, followed by Queens. Catawba edged AU by one point (104-105) for third place.

Augusta has to wait until Monday, Nov. 8, to find out if its advances to the NCAA Division II national championship as an at-large team. The NCAA will place 10 at-large teams in the nationals.

“I thought the men did really well, given that were a little young and inexperienced, I think we might have made a couple mistakes here and there,” said AU cross-country Coach Adam Ward. “We learn from this and were going to be a better team because it. It stings for them and I feel bad for the guys not getting the automatic qualifier and will have to wait and see if we get in.”

Two years ago, the Jaguars finished ninth in the national title race. There was no national championship race last year due to the pandemic.

On the women’s side, junior Mackenzie Taylor took ninth for AU and the Jaguars also finished ninth as a team. Queens won the women’s title, followed by Wingate in second and Anderson in third.

“I thought the women did well, many of them ran their personal bests or near personal bests,” said Ward. I super proud of how they did and it is something for them to build on.”

Taylor was ninth out of 155 competitors with a time of 21:49.9. The next highest finish for AU was senior Hannah Beach, who finished 30th with a time of 22:46.0. Following them, senior Miranda Taylor (70th, 24:05.2) and freshmen Caroline Pierce (78th, 24:18.7) and Hayley Gilbert (82nd, 24:28.2)

Taylor also advances to the nationals in Tampa.

“It feels awesome to qualify for nationals,” said Taylor. “This has been a goal of mine since starting to run. I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere of nationals.”

The regional meet included 22 colleges across the Southeast region  including other Peach Belt Conference members such as Flagler College and University of North Georgia.

Kai Brickey (L), Hans Troyer (36) and Chandler Kennedy (30) helped Augusta get fourth-place in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional. At the top of the page, Mackenzie Taylor (26) gets started in her regional race. She and Brickey qualified for the nationals. (photos by Cameron Watson, special to the Bell Ringer)