VERSAILLES, Ky. --- In the second official race of the 2023 season on Saturday morning in Versailles, Ky., Asbury cross country qualified their men's team and freshman
Bailey Gassmann for the NCCAA National Championship in November.
Gassmann, a freshman social work major from Churchville, Pa., has been electric since stepping on campus as her 24:04 6K time marks the second fastest in Asbury history behind Katy Falkenberg's school record.
The Asbury men's team's combined time of 143:18 from their first five finishers was good enough to qualify them for Nationals.
Dan Kersey, a sophomore from Wayne, IL., knocked off over a minute from his best-time last season.
Cameron Tapp, a junior media communications major trimmed an amazing three minutes off his previous best for the 8K event.
Wes Preston, the Asbury senior team captain is finally back to his strength after a recent illness. Freshman
Josh Rittgers and sophomore
Davis Brown rounded out the scoring for the Asbury men's team.
On the women's side it was Gassmann and
Lily Anne Rinehart leading the way, Rinehart being one of the top performances of the day to come in second for AU.
Ava Miller,
Katherine Stanley, and
Sarah Yost were the other Asbury women's team scorers.
As a team the Asbury women finished fourth overall out of seven scoring teams while the men took fifth place of nine teams.
"I was pleased with our performance today. It was great for the guys to get their qualifying time for NCCAA Nationals this early in the season. The women's team will be fine. We only need to knock off an average of five seconds per runner to get the time we need for Nationals."
Are scoring runners today were
Dan Kersey, who knocked over a minute off of his best time from last year,
Cameron Tapp, who trimmed and amazing three minutes off of his previous best time for 8K.
Wes Preston is finally giving his strength back after a recent illness,
Josh Rittgers, and
Davis Brown rounded out our scoring.
The ladies of course were paced by Bailey. Lily Anne,
Ava Miller, Kat Stanley and
Sarah Yost were our other scorers.
"I was pleased with our performance today. It was great for the guys to get their qualifying time for NCCAA Nationals this early in the season. The women's team will be fine. We only need to knock off an average of five seconds per runner to get the time we need for Nationals."
Randy Crist | Head Coach
Asbury's next race will be in Terre Haute, In., at the Nike XC Town Twilight hosted by Rose-Hulman on September 29th.
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