September 3, 2022

BEREA, Ky.--- The Eagle Cross Country teams began their season Friday evening with the Cross Country Jamboree at Berea College.  This annual opening meet is held at shorter distances than the usual 8K (men) and 5K (women) races generally contested during the year.  
 

NCCAA All-American Carolina Trumpower picked right up where she left off last fall with a new Asbury school record in the 2 mile ladies race.  Her time of 11:58.5 trimmed the previous mark of 12:11.8 set by Allison Lyon on this same course in 2017.  Carolina's effort was good for fourth place in the race, following a couple of University of the Cumberlands and a Centre athlete across the finish line.  Freshman Ava Miller was the next Eagle to finish in 13^th place, followed in scoring positions by Sarah Yost, Katherine Stanley and Selena Vargas.
 

The Lady Eagles finished mid-pack as a team; fourth out of the seven schools. They were well behind Cumberland and Center and were edged out of third by Georgetown by a 111-114 margin.  Finishing behind the Eagles were Transylvania, Berea and Maryville.
 

The men's team finished just 6^th out of 8 teams, hampered with a several runners unable to compete or finish due to illness and injury.  Freshman Davis Brown ran great in his first collegiate race, pacing the team with a time of 16:41.8, the fourth fastest 5K performance in AU history. Close behind in 16:49.3 was team captain Wes Preston in 16:49.3, ranking him fifth on the school's All-Time list.  Also scoring for the Eagles were Sam Webb, Luke Wheatley and Jacob Seawright.
 

"It was a good effort to start the year", said AU Coach Randy Crist, "Lina and Ava look like they will be a factor at the front of the pack wherever we go this season.  Sarah ran very well, and both Kat and Selena took about a minute off of their time from our scrimmage meet a week ago.  In the men's race Davis and Sam were really impressive.  It stung to have a couple of the guys have to pull out and then get nipped by just a few points by both Transy and Georgetown.  We'll see them again this season and will flip that result."
 

The Eagles' next race will be on September 26 when they travel to Shelbyville, IN to compete with Mount St. Joseph, Boyce, Spaulding, Hanover, and Kentucky Christian.