COMPLETE RESULTS
PHOTO GALLERY

High Point University senior Josh Morgan (Asheville, N.C./TC Roberson) finished third with a time of 25:48 at the 2009 New Balance Big South Men's Cross Country Championship to earn All-Conference honors as HPU finished second with 46 points. The Liberty Flames won the team championship with 33 points at Shady Oaks Kennel in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Liberty ran very well, they beat us. We talk about running within our parameters and we were right there," said head coach Mike Esposito. "We were certainly disappointed, we expected to win the meet. We did all we could do to win the meet and Liberty beat us."

Joining Morgan on the All-Conference team were sophomore Neal Darmody (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard), who finished seventh with a time of 26:13, and freshman Jacob Smith (Brockville, Ontario/Thousand Islands Secondary School), who finished ninth with a time of 26:24. Smith also earned Big South Freshman of the Year honors as the top true freshman finisher. Freshmen Stuart Edmonds (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) (26:35) and Dakota Peachee (Garner, N.C./West Johnston) (26:38) finished 13th and 14th to round out the Panthers' scorers.

"Josh has really made a commitment, he's a middle distance guy," Esposito said of Morgan. "We talked about being great in cross country this fall, and he did it. You could see it coming with his last couple of months of training. He has been so consistent."

"The encouraging thing is, after Josh, our finishers were sophomore, freshman, freshman, freshman," said Esposito.

Other HPU finishers included senior Josh Cashman (Deep River, Conn./Valley Regional), who finished 18th with a time of 27:09, sophomore Michael Ali (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern), who crossed the line in 29th place with a time of 27:43, junior Jevin Monds (Whitecourt, Alberta/Hilltop), who finished 35th with a time of 27:57, freshman Michael Peavey (Virginia Beach, Va./Floyd E Kellam), who finished 60th with a time of 29:57 and freshman Michael Thiele (Coventry, R.I./Coventry), who finished 65th with a time of 30:45.

Liberty posted 33 points, followed by High Point (46 points) and Coastal Carolina (59). In fourth-place was Virginia Military Institute with 107 points and UNC Asheville closed the top five with 133 points. In sixth was Winthrop with 150 points and in seventh was Charleston Southern with 199 points. Gardner-Webb (225) and Radford (247) rounded out the list.

Liberty's Samuel Chelanga finished first in the men's 8K in 23:50 to take home Runner of the Year honors.

The Flames finished No. 1 and No. 2 in Chelanga, who posted a time of 23:50, and Evans Kigen who clocked in at 25:13. Coastal Carolina's Jaime McCarthy (25:49), Kyle Kling (25:56) and Max Hacker (26:10) finished fourth through sixth. David Ricksecker of Liberty finished eighth with a time of 26:17 and LU's Jake Reed rounded out the All-Conference runners with a time of 26:30.

Morgan was also named to the Big South All-Academic team. Liberty's Brant Tolsma was named Coach of the Year and Gardner-Webb's Jason Wenzel was named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

"The meet itself was really well run," said Esposito. "The High Point University staff came through, the venue was unbelievable. This was the best one I've been to. I know I'm biased but from a spectator standpoint we had more people out here than we have seen at a cross country meet. It was a great meet."

High Point University will next compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional at Louisville on Nov. 14.