GREENVILLE, S.C. - CIU women's and men's cross country began their 2022 campaign at the Bruins XC Night Classic Friday night, hosted by Bob Jones University (S.C.). The Rams competed against Emmanual College (GA.), Montreat College (N.C.), SCAD (GA.), Southern Wesleyan (S.C.), and Bob Jones (S.C.).
The women's teams had an impressive opening meet showing with three runners finishing in the top 15.
Lydia Willhite led the way as she placed 7th with a final time of 16:29.4.
Dzana Cisic and
Rosemary Reed were not far behind, finishing in 10th and 13th. Cisic clocked in for a final time of 16:49.9, while Reed ended with a 17:11.4 outing.
Coach
Michael Knight commented on the women's opening meet performance, saying, "I'm very proud of our women. Tonight was sort of a coming-out party for them. They have worked very hard this summer to come in and set personal and school records. Dzana and Lydia came through with a pair of top-10 finishes against stiff conference and D-2 competition. Rose was knocking on the door in the 13th position. A great start to our season. We are ready for bigger achievements this year."
The CIU men's team had three runners with solid finishes in their first outing of the year.
Gavin Barfield ended the highest for the Rams with a 27th-place finish and a 21:46.2 final time.
Malik Beaver also participated Friday night and finished 36th with a 22:45.4 ending time.
Joel Baumgarten notched a 41st place finish at a 23:12.4 final time. Rounding out CIU's regime was
Nathaniel Long who finished 46th with a 24:03.9 final time.
Coach
Michael Knight praised the men's squad, saying, "The men came out tonight with purpose. They are all building off of great springs and summers. They attacked the ills particularly well. Gavin went out hard with top-tier competition and fought his way through. We had a lot of excellent teams and group running tonight that we took to extend into the rest of our season."
Up Next:
Both teams will compete in Charlotte, N.C., at the Queen City Invitational on Friday, Sep. 23.
