BEREA, Ky.--- The Asbury women's cross country team secured another first-place finish on Saturday in Richmond, Ky., at the Berea Invitational. The Eagles had four women finish in the top 10 out of 50 runners, while the AU men's team finished in second place, led by senior intercultural studies major
Dan Kersey, who took first place overall individually.
Asbury beat Berea by 14 points on the women's side, also clipping Truett-McConnel, Maryville, and Union. On the men's side, it was Maryville taking first place with a six-point win over AU.
Kersey was the men's individual champion in a field of 52 runners. His time of 28:07.7 for 8 Kilometers was the fastest any Asbury runner has covered the Berea course in the last 25 years, topping the Eagle's best of 28:08 run by Jared Brewster in 2010.
Asbury junior
Jojo Ernst and freshman sensation
Noah Smith claimed top 10 finish positions in the race with the seventh and eighth fastest times by an Asbury runner on this course over the last quarter-century.
Jesse Gassmann and
Cameron Tapp filled the other two scoring positions for the AU men's team.
AU junior
Bailey Gassmann finished second in the women's competition of 50 runners with a new Asbury best for the Berea course. Her time of 20:00.9 for 5 Kilometers was six seconds better than the previous Eagle best run by Katie Falkenberg in 2013.
Falkenberg is the only Asbury runner to qualify for the NAIA National Championship meet for four straight years.
Sophomore
Emma Groff ran a fantastic race to claim fourth place, followed by
Emma Le Duc,
Lucy Kate Gibson, and
Brooke O'Carroll in scoring positions.
"We enjoyed a good competition on a unique course where the runners crossed a creek twice and ran up and down a pretty rugged mountain trail. I believe this was Dan's best cross country meet ever. He put in a ton of miles in training over the summer and it showed. Jojo had a great meet as well. Emma Groff also had a big mileage summer and she is seeing the results now."
"The ladies are showing themselves to be a pretty tough team to beat against DIII or NAIA competition. I though the men ran well, but we still found ourselves trailing Maryville. We'll see them again in two weeks on our home course and in four weeks on their home course. I hope we can close the gap between them and us in those two meets to gain confidence before the one that really counts; our conference meet on October 31."
Randy Crist | Asbury Cross Country Head Coach
The Eagles will now take a two week break from competition, looking toward hosting the Spoon Fiercely Faithful XC Meet in Wilmore, Ky., on September 27.
* Our vision is to serve, train, and compete for the glory of God
* Follow @asburyeagles on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
* Watch all TeamAU home games live at Asbury Sports Digital Network.com
* Use the links attached to team schedules to watch live or follow live stats
*
Shop AU gear via the "Shop" button at asburyeagles.com
