The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s and women’s cross country teams each finished fourth overall Saturday morning at the Southern Conference Championships at the Milliken Research Center in Spartanburg, S.C.
Junior Emily Poole led the women with a 13th place finish and was named to the All-Conference Second Team. She was bolstered by Nicole Buehrle, Haley Morris and Brianna Nelson. The men were paced by Ryan Gebelein, Nathan Watson and John Payne.
Poole earned all-conference second team honors with her 13th place finish in a personal record time of 17:35.5.
Sophomore Nicole Buehrle posted a season-best time of 18:43.5, placing 31st overall.
She was followed by classmate Haley Morris in 33rd with a time of 18:51.3, just two seconds behind her personal-best set last season. Junior Brianna Nelson covered the 5-kilometer course in a time of 19:00.6, placing 35th overall and Hannah Caldwell rounded out the scoring runners with a time of 19:09.4.
Furman’s Allie Buchalski took first with a time of 16:21.6, nearly 20 seconds ahead of 2016 champion Samford’s Karisa Nelson. The Paladins placed all five scoring runners in the Top 8, taking first with 23 points and a fifth consecutive title.
Samford placed three in the Top 10 for second place with 43 points. East Tennessee State took third with 97 points followed by Chattanooga in fourth with 141 points. UNCG placed fifth (167), one point ahead of host Wofford (168). Mercer finished eighth with 212 points followed by VMI (214) and The Citadel (253).
Furman had four runners on the All-Conference First Team with Buchalski named the SoCon Runner of the Year. Samford had two runners on the first team with Wofford’s Hannah Steelman placing sixth overall and was named SoCon Freshman of the Year.
Joining Poole on the All-Conference Second team were three Paladins, two from Samford and one from East Tennessee State. Furman’s Savannah Carnahan was the women’s Pinnacle Award recipient and head coach Robert Gary was named the women’s Coach of the Year.
Junior transfer Ryan Gebelein led the Mocs to a fourth place finish Saturday morning at the SoCon Cross Country Championships with a personal best time of 25:45.5.
Nathan Watson ran a season-best time, placing 25th overall and second for Chattanooga with a time of 26:02.0. Not far behind was John Payne, finishing 28th with a time of 26:18.6.
Mark Britt and Richard Guiry sprinted it out the end of the race, finishing just over a second apart. Britt was 30th with a time of 26:27.5 and Guiry rounded out the scoring for UTC with a season-best time of 26:28.7.
Furman claimed a fifth consecutive team title with 15 points and placed nine in the Top 11. Paladin Aaron Templeton claimed Runner of the Year honors finishing in a time of 23:43.9, nearly eight seconds ahead of teammate Josh Bricknell.
ETSU finished second with 61 points followed by Samford with 78. The Mocs were fourth with 120 points followed by VMI with 160.
Six Paladins earned a spot on the all-conference first team with Samford’s Arsene Guillorel the lone Bulldog on the list. Furman and ETSU each had three runners on the second team and Samford had one.
Furman’s Daniel Bernal was named the SoCon men’s Freshman of the Year, Josh Bricknell was named the Pinnacle Award recipient for the men and Gary was the men’s Coach of the Year.
The Mocs return to action in two weeks at the NCAA South Region Championships hosted by the University of Alabama at the Harry Pritchett Running Course in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on November 11.