BLACK CLOCKS PERSONAL-BEST TIME AT PRE-REGIONAL

Saturday, September 26

Earlysville, Va.

10:00 AM

Radford University

Virginia/Panorama Farms Invitational

Photo by: RUHighlanderPhotos.com

BLACK CLOCKS PERSONAL-BEST TIME AT PRE-REGIONAL

9/26/2015 3:21:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

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EARLYSVILLE, Va. – For the second time in three meets this season, the Radford cross country teams dealt with weather issues as they competed in the Virginia-Panorama Farms Invitational on a soggy course at the site of this year's regional meet.

The top Highlander men's runners completed their first race of the campaign and Jacob Black led the way. The sophomore turned in a personal-best 8K time of 26:00.3, bettering his previous top mark by 18 seconds. The time placed him 78th overall in the 123-runner field.

Redshirt senior Ryan Farnan was next in 84th spot with a time of 26:12.1, followed by senior Chaz Porter in 92nd with a time of 26:28.0. Sophomore Brady Guertin was Radford's fourth finisher in 27:07.8, with freshman Jeff Gibson right behind with a 27:15.5. RU was 14th in the team competition.

"The work (Jacob) put in over the summer has shown through during training, and it was good to see that fitness translate to a positive race," Radford head coach Eric Thatcher said. "Our team results indicate that we haven't run an 8K in a while and we will look for more guys to step up next week."

The Highlander women were paced by a trio that crossed the line consecutively, starting with junior Courtney Rice, who clocked 20:03.3 in the 5K race to place 86th. Fellow junior Courtney Burton was next in 20:07.7, followed by freshman Sarah Riley with a 20:13.8 for 88th. Freshman Percie Lyons was team's fourth finisher in 20:57.0 and sophomore Cailyn Lavigne rounded out the top five in 21:03.6. Radford placed 15th overall.

"Our women packed up today to work together," Thatcher said. "Our challenge moving through the season will be to attach our group to the larger pack in races to give ourselves a chance to finish strong.

The teams will conclude a stretch of three meets in as many weeks as they compete in the USC Upstate Invitational for the pre-Big South Conference event next Saturday.

"We are looking forward to racing the same distances next weekend at the Big South preview to gain the experience we will need to excel by October 31 (Big South Championships)," Thatcher said.