The Covenant cross country teams were back in action for the second time this season on Saturday morning at the Sewanee Invitational. Running a longer meet this week, the teams each finished in sixth place, out of eight schools.
"Today we wanted to see how well we could do at the 6k and 8k distances," said head coach Katie Stanford. "We have a lot of work to do to get ready for the end of the season but I saw a lot of positives today and had a few surprise finishes by some of our newcomers that were exciting and promising."
On the women's side, junior Beth Burgess led the way for the Lady Scots with a 22nd place finish with a 6k time of 26:10.12. Spookie Eaves placed 29th after a running time of 26:48.77 while Anna Hankal(26:58.43) and Esther Anderson (27:03.01) finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively. Freshman Grace Bodron rounded out the top five Covenant runners by finishing 47th with a time of 27:58.49.
The women placed sixth as a team with 134 points, but did place higher than Maryville and Oglethorpe and just two points behind Berry for fifth. Emory took the team title and the Eagles' Tamara Surtees won the indivdual crown.
The men were led by senior Matt Gorter as he finished overall after a time of 30:30.46. Stephen Dillon was 46th with a 31:06.43 time. Justin Jantomaso was the third Covenant runner and 51st overall with an 8k time of 31:37.52. Jack Williams (33:29.61) and Si Mitchell (33:31.98) completed the top five Scots runners as they finished back-to-back at 68th and 69th.
The men also finished better than Maryville and Oglethorpe. Centre was the team winner with 20 points and Berry's Ryan James was the individual award winner.
"Matt Gorter and Beth Burgess stepped up today and fought hard and led the team," continued Stanford. "I was encouraged to see a senior and junior make use of their experience and set a great example for our freshmen."
The men's and women's teams will both compete at the University of North Georgia Invitational next Saturday, Sept. 14 beginning at 8:45 a.m. in Oakwood, Ga.