Covenant Cross Country Teams Sweep USA South West Division Championship
Friday, February 26, 2021
The Covenant cross country teams toppled the USA South West Division championships with a pair of team titles while Ben Mellott was the men's individual champion at the conference meet on Friday afternoon in Grady, Ala.
It was the first conference title for the men since 2014, while the women claim their first official title in the NCAA-era.
Mellot became the first men's runner to win a conference meet since Micah Sneller won the USA South race in 2015. Mellott earned the title in a personal-record setting time of 27:21.6 in the 8k event.
Along with being the meet champion, Mellot earned a spot on the USA South All-West Division first team.
The men placed four runners inside the top-10 and totaled 29 points to best Piedmont (36) and four other teams.
Ian Sneller placed third overall with a time of 28:27.7 to garner first team All-West honors, while Micaiah Allison was fourth at 28:29.5 to also collect a first team selection. Benjamin Jones finished in 28:48.2 to place ninth.
Leif Le Mahieu (29:33.8) finished 12th, Jonathan George (29:45.1) was 13th, and Nate Moore (29:48.6) placed 14th to round out the top seven finishers for the Scots.
The women also put four runners inside the top-10 and had three earned first team All-West Division. The Scots were paced by Mattie Parker's second place finish. Parker earned first team All-West honors with her 6k time of 24:57.1. S.K. Lipperd came in fourth and earned first team with her time of 25:09.
Claire Mackes made her cross country debut and garnered first team honors with her sixth-place finish and time of 25:50.6.
Maggie Henry was the fourth Covenant runner inside the top 10 as she placed ninth (27:01.6). Brooke McDonald (27:24.6), Ashleigh Baker (27:49.9), and Lydia Dorman (27:55.2) finished in 10th through 12th, respectively.
Covenant finished with 31 points to best the five-team field.