UTC junior Emmanuel Kirwa claimed his second straight Southern Conference cross country title Saturday morning at the league championships on the Elon campus in Elon, N.C., and led the Mocs to a fourth place finish. The Lady Mocs placed sixth overall with junior Anneli Uys placing third.
“Emmanuel did great,” Mocs Head Coach Bill Gautier said. “We expected that Emmanuel would win. We’ve been planning all year for this race.”
Kirwa finished the 8-kilometer course in a time of 25:00.38, three seconds faster than UNC Greensboro’s Mike Koech. UTC’s Josh Vasquez was the men’s second place finisher in 16th place with a time of 25:53.99 and freshman Kyle McLarty was 29th overall with a time of 26:30.54.
McLarty and fellow freshman Mark Cole, who placed 33rd with a time of 26:38.97, were both named to the SoCon All-Freshman team. Cole was the Mocs fifth scoring runner just behind senior David Moore who was 32nd with a time of 26:36.63.
“Josh ran a good race and our two freshmen PR’d,” Gautier said. “I had hoped we’d get second or third, but I’m very happy for Emmanuel.”
Kirwa is the 11th Chattanooga runner to be named SoCon Runner of the Year in the last 14 years.
In the women’s race, junior Anneli Uys led the three-time defending Lady Mocs to a sixth place finish in the 5-kilometer race placing third with a time of 18:11.62 behind SoCon Runner and Freshman of the Year Brittney Caudle of Appalachian State and Furman’s Chloe Kowalski.
“Anneli did well and made all conference along with freshman Heather Stuive,” Gautier said. “Four of our scoring runners this year, including Anneli, were not on the team last year.”
The Lady Mocs were without last year’s all-conference performer Tara Gietema and all-freshman Meredith White.
Stuive was the Lady Mocs second place finisher placing sixth overall earning her a spot on the All-Conference and All-Freshmen teams. Freshman Kathryn Stuart was 27th for the Lady Mocs with a time of 19:22.65 and classmate Mary Cumbee was 33rd with a time of 19:28.04.
“After so many years at the top, you get one of those years where you have to regroup,” Gautier said. “We’ll try to redeem ourselves in two weeks at region.”
Both teams will return to action at the NCAA South Region meet hosted by the University of Alabama on Saturday, November 14.
Appalachian State repeated as the league champs and Samford, in its second year in the conference, posted a narrow one-point win. The Davidson men were second followed by UNC Greensboro. The Elon women finished second while Appalachian State’s women took third.
Team Scores – Men
1. Appalachian State 44
2. Davidson 82
3. UNC Greensboro 83
4. Chattanooga 109
5. Elon 134
6. Furman 146
7. Western Carolina 158
8. College of Charleston 203
9. The Citadel 218
10. Samford 261
11. Wofford 276
Team Scores – Women
1. Samford 74
2. Elon 75
3. Appalachian State 83
4. Furman 93
5. Davidson 110
6. Chattanooga 134
7. UNC Greensboro 138
8. Western Carolina 168
9. College of Charleston 254
10. Wofford 289
11. Georgia Southern 319
12. The Citadel 357
All-SoCon First Team – Men
1. Emmanuel Kirwa – Junior – Chattanooga
2. Mike Koech – Sophomore – UNC Greensboro
3. Lance Harden – Senior – Davidson
4. Phil Mitchell – Senior – Appalachian State
5. Joey Thompson – Sophomore – UNC Greensboro
6. Sean Soderman – Sophomore – Appalachian State
7. Alec Meyer – Senior – Appalachian State
All-SoCon First Team – Women
1. Brittney Caudle – Freshman – Appalachian State
2. Chloe Kowalski – Sophomore – Furman
3. Anneli Uys – Junior – Chattanooga
4. Hillary Neal – Junior – Samford
5. Ina Ables – Junior – Samford
6. Heather Stuive – Freshman – Chattanooga
7. Caitlin Beeler – Senior – Elon
All-SoCon Second Team – Men
8. Ryan Hopkins – Sophomore – Davidson
9. Charlie McGoogan – Junior – Furman
10. Josh Houser – Senior – Appalachian State
11. Matthew Richardson – Junior – Elon
12. Josey Weaver – Sophomore – Western Carolina
13. Stephen Hammond – Senior – Western Carolina
14. Andy Clyne – Junior – UNC Greensboro
All-SoCon Second Team – Women
8. Sherrika Jordan – Senior – UNC Greensboro
9. Natalie Atabek – Freshman – Davidson
10. Emily Fournier – Junior – Elon
11. Brittany Johnson – Senior – Furman
12. Danielle Ruggieri – Junior – Davidson
13. Katie Booker – Senior – Appalachian State
14. Heather Conarroe – Junior – Davidson
All-SoCon Freshman Team – Men
18. Trey Parker – Wofford
19. Burk Staub – Appalachian State
21. Nolan Clark – Western Carolina
23. Brian Graves – Appalachian State
29. Kyle McLarty – Chattanooga
30. Demetrios Pagonis – Davidson
33. Mark Cole – Chattanooga
All-SoCon Freshman Team – Women
1. Brittney Caudle – Appalachian State
6. Heather Stuive – Chattanooga
9. Natalie Atabek – Davidson
15. Morgan Denecke – Elon
22. Sullivan Parkes – Elon
23. Trinity Foreman – Appalachian State
24. Mara Smith – Western Carolina
Coach of the Year – Men
Mike Curcio – Appalachian State
Coach of the Year – Women
Rod Tiffin – Samford
Runner of the Year – Men
Emmanuel Kirwa – Chattanooga
Runner of the Year – Women
Brittney Caudle – Appalachian State
Freshman of the Year – Men
Trey Parker – Wofford
Freshman of the Year – Women
Brittney Caudle – Appalachian State