Racing under the lights on their home course, the men's cross country team got off to a hot start as they finished in first place at the Bruins XC Night Classic on Friday.
"It's a blessing for us to start the season out in an environment that's under the lights," said Head Coach Ken Roach. "One of the things I mentioned to the team before the race was that there is no right or wrong way to run this race. We just want to make sure we're together in the same mindset. They accomplished that, and I think that's going to take us throughout the rest of the season."
Five teams and over 40 runners toed the line at the start of 6k race in Greenville, South Carolina Friday night. As the gun went off, the men back the looped course across the fields on the back campus of Bob Jones University.
A pack of runners formed early with several Bruins in the mix. As the race continued, the group began to thin out but several Bruins looked strong as they worked to stay near the front.
Coming into the straightaway towards the finish line, a runner from Emmanuel College finished first with Bruins runner Sol Shafer right behind him in second place with a time of 20:25.3. Crossing the finish line next for BJU was Marc Johnson at 21:23.9. Finishing 9th and 10th overall was Joseph Grassmid with a time of 21:36.5 followed by newcomer Joel Betres-Mena just one second later. Rounding out the scoring for the Bruins was Evan Seaman with a time of 21:52.6.
Also competing for the Bruins was Levi Gerbitz, a freshman who raced to a time of 22:30, Trenton Goldsmith who finished in the top-25, Daniel Kyle, and Seth Cordes.
At the end, it was a close race for the top team spot, but the men's cross country team edged out Columbia College with a score of 41 points to take their first team win of the season. Full results from the Bruins XC Night Classic can be found
here.
"After the excitement of this race, they are going to be able to bring that into our next meet," said Roach. "We give God all the glory and can't wait to keep moving."
The Bruins will have a couple more weeks of practice and preparation before they make their way across town for the Furman Invitational on September 16.
