Celine Ritter and Chloe Flora (from right) finished fourth and fifth to help the Lady Flames win the Royals Cross Country Challenge Friday evening at McAlpine Park in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Lee University cross country teams completed their regular season schedules with a pair of first place finishes at the Royals Cross Country Challenge Friday evening at McAlpine Park.
The No. 8 Lady Flames put two runners in the top five and four in the top 20 on their way to accumulating 90 points to finish at the top of the 63-team field.
Lee’s average team time of 17:53.22 set a school record at the 5K distance.
Furman University was second with 126 points. The Paladins are ranked No. 18 in the latest NCAA Division I poll.
“I could not be prouder of what our women accomplished,” said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. “We sat out our usual No. 4 (Hannah Spooneybarger) and asked everyone to step it up. They did in a big way. The team mentality of this group of women is overwhelming. We are excited about the progress we are making from week to week. We had a lot of personal bests today.”
Celine Ritter was the first Lee runner to cross the finish line. The junior was fourth overall with a time of 17:18.9. Chloe Flora was right behind in fifth with a mark of 17:20.2. Those times are the second and third-fastest in Lee women’s history at the 5k distance.
Hannah Steelman of Wofford was the first of 541 runners to complete the race. She posted a time of 16:48.3 to win by six seconds.
Charlee Boxall stopped the clock at 18:02.8 to finish 19th, while Toni Moore was 21st at 18:07.4. Emma Clark completed Lee’s top five at 18:36.8 (45th).
Olivia McLain was the sixth Lady Flame across the line. McLain’s time of 18:39.6 put her 54th overall. Becca Umbarger (18:46.3) finished 66th.
Kendra Irvine and Audrey Royer were the final Lee runners. Irvine finished 145th at 19:25.1 and Royer was 167th (19:35.8).
The No. 12 Flames finished ahead of three other ranked NCAA Division II squads with 75 points. Mount Olive, ranked No. 21, was second with 98 team points. Host school Queens University of Charlotte (No. 16) was third with 105 points and No. 9 University of Charleston (W.Va.) amassed 117 points to complete the top four in the 57-team field.
“The ability of our top five to work together is quite remarkable,” said Lee head coach Caleb Morgan. “We had all five men within 13 seconds of each other. The whole team keeps progressing each race. We lost to No. 9 Charleston just two weeks ago and were able to beat them by a pretty good margin tonight.”
Lee put five runners in the top 25 and eight in the top 39. The average team time of 24:34.64 was the best by any Lee men’s team in an 8K race.
Joshua Chepkesir of UNC Pembroke was the first of 519 runners to cross the finish line. He won by just over 18 seconds with a mark of 23:22.7.
Will Stone was the first Lee runner across the finish line and was 14th overall. His time of 24:27.4 eclipsed the previous Lee freshman record by 10 seconds.
Caleb Eagleson was right behind in 15th with a mark of 24:30.1. Ben Tabor’s time of 24:35.9 put him in 18th. Thomas Kelton and Casey Guthery were the fourth and fifth Lee runners to finish, respectively. Kelton was 22nd (24:39.7) and Guthery placed 24th (24:40.1).
Dawson Reed and Moises Ponce were the final two scorers for the Flames. Reed (24:59.7) crossed the line in 34th, while Ponce finished in 35th with a time of 25:00.9.
Adan Rodriguez finished 39th overall after completing the course in 25:02.1. Ezekiel Harless was 71st (25:32.1). Andrew Hendry completed the Lee finishers at 26:39.3 (178th).
“We have a lot of great leadership among these men. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish in the post season,” added Morgan.
Next up for Lee will be the Gulf South Conference Championship on Saturday, October 26, in Montevallo, Alabama.