AU cross-country men finish seventh, women 17th, in North Alabama Showcase

By Katron Hugee | Sports writer

Augusta University’s men and women’s cross-country teams competed well against NCAA Division I opponents on Friday, Sept. 17, at the North Alabama Showcase meet in Huntsville, Alabama.

The men’s cross-country team participated in an 8K run and finished seventh overall out of 17 teams. The Jaguars competed against Division I universities such as Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, East Tennessee State and Lipscomb.

The highest finisher for AU was Kai Brickey, who finished 17th out of 174 participants with a time of  24 minutes and 57.12 seconds. Overall, the men’s team had two runners place in the top 25 and nine in the top 100.

The women’s cross-country team participated in a 5K run and finished 17th overall out of 21 teams. The highest finisher for the women’s team was Mackenzie Taylor, who was 31st out of 171 participants at 17 minutes and 51.91 seconds. Overall, the women’s team had two runners place in the top 100.

Adam Ward, coach of the AU cross-country teams, believes that this meet was a success in progressing for the future.

“For us it was a great chance to really test ourselves and push ourselves and get out of our comfort zone a little bit and use this really as preparation for what it's going to be like in the postseason, and I think we achieved those things,” said Ward.

Augusta competed against Ole Miss, which is currently ranked first in Division I men’s cross-country and second among women in the South region and Alabama, which is currently ranked first in Division I women’s cross-country and third in men’s in the South region.

Ole Miss also currently ranks 14th in the national poll for D1 women’s cross-country and 16th in the men’s national poll, and Alabama currently ranks seventh in the national poll for D1 women’s cross-country.

Ward believes that this exposure to higher quality opponents will help the Jaguars grow and learn from the experience.

“When you race those caliber of programs, you lose that fear of racing people that are better than you,” Ward said. “If we go to regionals and nationals we’re not worried, we’ve raced teams as good if not better than some of those teams.”

For the men, Hans Troyer followed Brickey. Troyer was 24th in 25:08.63. Thomas Rischar was next for the Jaguars in 53rd in 25:50.62; Avery Jaynes was in 60th place in 25:54.92; Carlos Rodriguez took 75th in 26:13.20 and Patrick Motes was 86th in 26:41.39.

On the women’s side, AU’s Hannah Beach finished 89th in 19:04.08.

The men fielded two teams in the meet.

The cross-country teams’ next meet takes place Oct. 2 in Fairburn, Ga., at the Alexander Asics Invitational as the teams continue to train not only for the next meet but with the ultimate goal in mind.

“There is emphasis on the week to week, but always focus on what’s our ultimate goal,” Ward said. “We want to make it to nationals, and we want to do well at nationals, and that’s both programs.”

Contact Katron Hugee at KHUGEE@augusta.edu.

Note: At the top of the page, the Jaguar men get started in the North Alabama Showcase. (photo by Wenona Van Derhei, special to the Bell Ringer)