GOLD RACE RESULTS
OPEN RACE RESULTS

The High Point University men's cross country team won the Blue Ridge Open, edging Davidson by one point, on Friday in Boone, N.C. Sophomore Neal Darmody (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) placed seventh overall and senior Josh Morgan (Asheville, N.C./TC Roberson) took ninth to lead the Panthers.

HPU had the low score of the day with 76 points, one ahead of runner-up Davidson. Behind Davidson the top six were filled out by Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Wake Forest and VMI. There were 19 total schools competing in the meet.

"It was a really strong effort on the men's side, and Neal is really coming into form as the season goes on," said head coach Mike Esposito. "We're really pleased with how the team ran. Not only Neal and Josh, but the three freshmen – Jacob Smith, Dakota Peachee and Stuart Edmonds – ran well and Jevin Monds improved from last year. I think the freshmen are feeding off the juniors and seniors. They all moved up progressively during the race, and the people who had previously run on this course all had their best times."

Darmody ran a time of 25:15.25 to place seventh overall, and Morgan placed ninth in 25:26.27. Darmody's time was over a minute faster than 2008, despite the wet conditions. Morgan also improved by close to a minute.

HPU's five scorers were filled out by freshmen Jacob Smith (Brockville, Ontario/Thousand Islands Secondary School) and Dakota Peachee (Garner, N.C./West Johnston) and junior Jevin Monds (Whitecourt, Alberta/Hilltop). Smith had a strong finish to place 19th in 25:44.17 and Peachee was close behind in 25:52.05, good for 25th. Monds placed 42nd with a time of 26:11.03.

Freshman Stuart Edmonds (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) also had a solid race, placing 56th with a time of 26:25.16. Senior Josh Cashman (Deep River, Conn./Valley Regional) was the Panthers' seventh finisher in the gold race, taking 62nd with a time of 26:32.87.

Fifth-year senior Jesse Cherry ran away from the field for a win with a time of 24:09.47. Former HPU cross country runner Cole Atkins took fifth in 25:07.96. Neither of their times counted toward the team scoring. Cherry has eligibility remaining for the indoor and outdoor track seasons, and Atkins may also have track eligibility remaining.

High Point had four runners in the open race, led by sophomore Michael Ali (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern), who took 15th in 27:28.60. Freshman Jonathan Riley (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendhem) took 21st in 27:50.21, Mike Thiele took 53rd in 29:33.19 and Mike Peavey placed 61st in 29:48.61.

The meet was HPU's final race prior to the Big South Cross Country Championship, which will be hosted by HPU at Shady Oaks in Winston-Salem on Oct. 31. It's the first time HPU has hosted the Big South Championship in cross country.