HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--- Asbury women's cross country won their second consecutive Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) Championship on Friday in Huntsville, Ala., led by junior Bailey Gassman's first place individual finish. The AU men's team took third place out of seven teams, anchored by freshman
Jesse Gassmann, who earned third place individually.
The AU women defeated second-place Covenant by 10 points (32-42), and Maryville, Piedmont, Agnes Scott, Huntingdon, and Belhaven in that order. Covenant was favored going into the race after their regular season times, despite the Eagles being preranked No. 1 in the CCS going into the 2025 season.
Asbury put together their best women's race of the year for their back-to-back championship, including seven of their 10 student-athletes recording lifetime PR's for a 6K race.
Gassmann, a social work and adventure education and leadership major, ran a 23:28 6K time as the individual conference champion after finishing second place in the 2024 race. Sophomore
Emma Groff ran her best race ever, knocking 1:20 off of her previous personal record to finish third in the race (23:59).
In addition, senior captain
Brooke O'Carroll had an amazing run, taking 45 seconds off of her previous best to finish sixth in the conference. Gassmann, Groff, and O'Carroll were all named to the CCS All-Conference First Team.
AU freshman
Emma Le Duc trimmed 28 seconds off of her previous best time to claim ninth place out of the 45 competitors. The key surprise for Asbury was freshman
Taylor Greenwell finishing 13th place with a time 58 seconds better than she had ever run before.
It was the first time that Greenwell had filled one of the scoring positions for AU. Le Duc and Greenwell were both named Second Team All-Conference. Also recording new personal best times were
Lucy Kate Gibson,
Ellie Kershner, and
Sophie Boehmler.
The Asbury men's cross country team's third-place finish came behind Covenant and Maryville, with Covenant taking the championship.
Jesse Gassmann, an adventure education and leadership major led AU in third overall, trimming 40 seconds off his previous best time for the 8000 meter (5 mile) distance with a time of 27:06.
Following the race, Gassmann was named First Team All-Conference and also the CCS Men's Cross Country Rookie of the Year.
Senior captain
Dan Kersey finished sixth in a season-best time of 27:48 to earn Second Team All-Conference honors for the second year in a row.
Jojo Ernst ran his fastest time ever to claim 18th place.
Josh Rittgers and
Noah Smith rounded out the Eagles' scoring positions, placing 20th and 21st.
Men's Results
Women's Results
"We knew coming into this women's race that Covenant was the team we had to beat. Halfway through the 3.8-mile race, it was obvious that Bailey was going to win the individual title, but the team championship was looking to be dead even between us and Covenant. Emma Groff and Taylor Greenwell were both running the race of their life, but I wasn't sure whether to be excited or fearful that they had gone out too fast and would fade in the second half. It turned out they knew what they were doing because both of them, as well as Brooke O'Carroll and Emma Le Duc, kept up their pace as the Covenant women began to drop off.
Our men's team was picked third this year in the conference preseason poll, and that is where we finished the year, but you always want to prove people wrong and place higher than expected. Jesse and Jojo both had great races. The other guys ran well, so we really couldn't be disappointed, but this late in the year, you always hope that somebody will have a breakthrough performance, and that is what we would have needed to beat Maryville today."
Randy Crist | Asbury Cross Country Head Coach
The AU men's team will compete in the NCAA DIII Great Lakes Regional Championship on November 15 at 10 am in Louisville, Ky. The women's team will race in the National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) Championship on November 14 in Joplin, Mo.
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