By Alex Boggis, UT Martin Assistant Sports Information Director
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The University of Tennessee at Martin cross country teams put the finishing touches on a strong season at the NCAA South Region Championships on Friday morning at John Hunt Cross Country Course with seven individual personal-records within the team’s respective scoring groups.
Going head to head against some of the top competitors in the nation, the Skyhawks held their own. UT Martin’s men finished 17th in the region – matching the team’s 2019 result – while a young women’s squad came in 27th.
With the women’s 6k race beginning the championship event, the Skyhawks saw the pair of Lilia Alvarez and Erica Fisher lead the pack. Alvarez ranked as the team’s top scorer with a time of 22:33.41 for a new personal-best while Fisher wasn’t far behind to finish just three spots later at 22:36.41.
Freshman Victoria Holliday recorded a new PR of her own at 23:58.65 to finish third on the team while Jill Plotner (24:11.81) and Blayne Lachance (24:24.57) rounded out the scoring group.
In the men’s 10k race the Skyhawks had four players finish in the top-100 while the entire scoring group posted new PRs. Senior Luke McNair built off his All-OVC first team honors two weeks ago by leading the pack once again to finish 47th overall with a time of 31:13.13 for a new PR in his final race of the season.
The next group of Skyhawks were led by George Payne who finished 84th with a PR time of 32:04.33 while Will Oglesby was right behind him in 85th with a PR time of his own at 32:06.18. The Skyhawk duo of Will Cahill (32:26.99) and Cole Davis (33:17.33) wrapped up the scoring-five with top career times.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information