The Wesleyan men's and women's cross country teams entered Saturday's West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) championship looking to defend their respective titles. Both rosters featured plenty of new faces that were going up against deep and talented competion. However, on a muddy and soggy morning at Glenville State, the Bobcat nation rose up and claimed conference supremecy.
The women's team came into the race ranked first in the conference power rankings but saw one of their top runners in Rana Conneway go down with an injury leading up to meet. Despite the loss of Conneway to go along with an on course tumble by Christine Azevedo on Saturday, the Lady Bobcats stepped up to earn their 15th conference title in the last 16 years.
Junior Jenna Brock led the way for Wesleyan with a second place finish on the 6k course in 26:19.25. The next highest Lady Bobcat finisher was freshman Ashley Lavengood (pictured) in 13th with a time of 27:25.64.
Rounding out the Wesleyan top five was sophomore Katelyn Hunt in 17th with a time of 27:52.45, freshman Devin Muldoon in 18th (27:53.12) and senior Adrienne Moretz in 19th (27:55.87).
Azevedo, meanwhile, fell in the sloppy conditions but recovered to finish 22nd in 28:16.28.
The Lady Bobcats finished with 69 total places beating second place Seton Hill's 75 and third place Conord's 76.
The race for first was a little bit tighter on the men's side. The Wesleyan men were ranked fourth going into the meet but stepped up on Satruday to tie Seton Hill for the team title. The Bobcats victory marked the first time a fourth seed has earned a share of the title.
Sophomore Nate Edwards turned in a solid second place finish in 28:52.12. He was followed by freshman Skyler McCoy (pictured) in third in 29:22.92.
Sophomore Barry Franklin came in at tenth in 29:56.44, Caleb Withers in 15th (30:16.50), and Luke Finley at 21st (30:48.58) to round out the top five runners.
Also finishing for the men was freshman Thomas Osborne in 31st with a time of 31:34.72.
Wesleyan and Seton Hill finished tied at the top of the results with 51 total places apiece, well ahead of third place Conord's 68 and fourth place Alderson Broaddus' 106.
In additon to the strong team performances, head coach Jesse Skiles was recognized as the WVIAC Women's Coach of the Year. Saturday's titles were Skiles 46th and 47th WVIAC championships as a head coach.
"I am really proud of both groups today," Skiles said. "We had two great team races. I was pleased with how our established runners led the way and I was happy with the way the newcomers stepped up."
The men's and women's cross country teams will now turn their attention to the Atlantic Regional meet in Mansfield, PA on November 7.