WILMORE, Ky.--- Senior Carolina Trumpower and Sophomore Will Durrance each took first place as women's cross country finished first and the men placed second in the Asbury Chick-fil-A Invitational on Saturday morning at Asbury University. This race marks the end of a successful regular season for Asbury cross country, as they will now prepare for the NCCAA National Championship Meet in November. 

Asbury hosted over ten different schools to Wilmore, Ky., on Saturday morning for the Chick-fil-A Invitational. The women's 5K race started off the meet as Asbury defended their home course with an impressive first place finish by only one point over Kentucky Wesleyan College, 27 to 28. 

Carolina Trumpower paced the race with her fourth top five finish of the season in five meets, and her second first place victory. Carolina passed Katy Falkenberg with a time of 19:18.19  to become the fastest Asbury University runner ever on the AU home course, although her time was still nearly a minute behind the course record set by NAIA national champion Anna Shield of Point Park University in 2017. 

Freshman Ava Miller came in just behind Trumpower with a third place finish that makes her the fifth fastest Asbury runner ever on their home course at 20:38.75.

In the men's 8K race it was Asbury around the top of the board again, this time battling with Thomas More for first. Despite Asbury having the first place winner in the race, Will Durrance, Thomas More managed to hold on to take a one point victory for first, with Asbury coming in a comfortable second place. 

The race was strongly led by sophomore Will Durrance for Asbury, taking his first collegiate first place victory. Durrance recorded the fourth fastest men's time ever on Asbury's course at 26:48.22. The course record is 26:22 set by a runner from Morehead State University (Aaron Wier) in 2016. Will's time was the second fastest every for an Asbury runner on their home course. Justin Spoon has the fastest time for an Asbury runner on the home course with a 26:38 in 2020. 

Like Ava Miller, another Asbury freshman became the fifth fastest Asbury runner ever on the home course, Davis Brown. Brown has had a very strong freshman season for AU and finished today's race in fourth place.

The biggest surprise of the day for Asbury was freshman Daniel Kersey finishing in tenth place. This was the first time Kersey had competed this season due to injuries. "The majority of his training has been on an exercise bike and in the pool", said head coach Randy Crist. "I can't wait to see what he will do when he can get into a regular training cycle"


* Carolina Trumpower took her second first place finish of the season, becoming the fastest female runner ever on Asbury's home course (19:18.19)
* Will Durrance took his first career race victory at Asbury
* Daniel Kersey finished top ten in his first career race for AU
* Ava Miller became the fifth fastest Asbury runner ever on their home course with a third place finish
* Davis Brown also became the fifth fastest Asbury runner on their home course with a fourth place finish


See the full meet results with this link. 


"Today's race was tough as our course is not an easy one and running solo isn't easy. I'm thankful to come out with my first collegiate win and a solid effort from the rest of our team. We are ready for NCCAA Nationals!"
    - Will Durrance, Sophomore | Exercise Science Major

"It was an awesome day for a race, and we were super blessed to have such nice weather. Our course is a tough one, but the whole team ran strong today."
    - Owen Vick, Senior | Marketing Major


This meet complete the regular season for Asbury, they will now prepare for their trip to the NCCAA National Championship in Joplin, MO., in the second week of November. 


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