In a competition with 93 entries from nine different schools, Longwood placed third with a team average 28 seconds behind second place finisher, Coastal Carolina University, last Friday, Sept. 11.
Senior Russell Reed finished second, individually crossing the line at 16:10.6, over a minute before sophomore teammate Leon Bard joined him (17:14.5).
“I was excited when we got the opportunity to come back out here, but I definitely feel a little bit of disappointment after the race,” said Reed to the Longwood athletics official website.
The top three schools had averages just over a minute from each other. University of North Carolina-Wilmington’s (UNCW) average of 16:30.86 earned them first place followed by Coastal Carolina’s 17:04.30 and Longwood’s 17:32.24.
UNCW’s first five finishers all ranked within the top seven spots of the invitational, the other two spots were taken by Reed (No. 2) and Coastal Carolina freshman Josh Small (No. 3).
Aside from the top three, the rest of the schools averaged over 19 minutes.
“I'm so proud of the grit the guys ran with today,” said cross-country head coach Catherine Hanson to the Longwood athletics official website. “It was a slow, soft course with the rain, and it was very humid, but even with the conditions, we had some outstanding performances.”
The Lancers will host the Longwood Invitational this Friday, Sept. 18 for their second meet of the season.
