BOONE, N.C. - The College of Charleston men's and women's cross country teams competed Saturday morning at the Southern Conference Championships, with the women placing seventh and the men eighth. Freshman Dena O'Brien earned All-Conference Honors and was selected Freshman of the Year, with an individual fifth-place finish. Junior Christian Bailey led the men with an individual 19th place finish.
CofC coach Amy Seago said although the team wanted to do better there were improvements that were made.
"We had some good things happen," she said. "We need to take the positives away because they made a lot of steps in the right direction, its just the rest of the conference has gotten a lot stronger too."
Following O'Brien for the women's team was All-SoCon Second Team honoree Kristen Wolfe (11th, 18:31.22), Callen Powers (33rd, 19:13.94), McKenna Nokes (50th, 19:35.05), Natasha Pavlovich (54th, 19:38.25), Tierney Willard (62nd, 19:56.79), (73rd, 20:18.81), Elle Brewer (75th, 20:30.55) and Kristen Jenkins (78th, 20:41.43). Grace Loba
O'Brien earned the women's Freshman of the Year award. She also was recognized as a member of the All-SoCon First Team as well as making the All-SoCon Freshman Team.
"She is only a freshman and she is hanging with juniors and seniors right now," Seago said. "I was really proud of how she ran."
The men's team was led by Bailey, who finished 19th in 25:37.99, just five seconds off his school record set earlier this year at the Charlotte Invitational. Freshman Andrew Nelson was 28th overall and the third freshman runner in the race crossing the line in 25:59.84. Nelson earned a spot on the All-SoCon Freshman Team.
Next up for the men was junior Alexander Hill (40th, 26:33.04), David Lamberson (58th, 27:04.21), Manning Miller (60th, 27:12.32), Jeff Crain (66th, 27:28.18), Sam Metzger (73rd, 28:06.00), Andrew George (77th, 28:16.58) and Alex Boccard (81st, 28:30.77).
Both the men's and women's teams will resume competition in two weeks for the NCAA Southeast Regional to be held Nov. 13 in Louisville, Ky.
Team Scores - Men
1. Appalachian State 55
2. UNCG 66
3. Chattanooga 74
4. Davidson 100
5. Furman 118
6. Elon 153
7. Western Carolina 180
8. College of Charleston 197
9. Samford 236
10. The Citadel 278
11. Wofford 292
Team Scores - Women
1. Samford 71
2. Appalachian State 74
3. UNCG 87
4. Chattanooga 123
5. Elon 135
6. Furman 144
7. College of Charleston 149
8. Davidson 161
9. Western Carolina 202
10. Wofford 274
11. The Citadel 319
12. Georgia Southern 357
All-SoCon First Team - Women
1. Ashley Schnell - Junior - UNCG
2. Lauren D'Alessio - Sophomore - Samford
3. Hillary Neal - Senior - Samford
4. Shaina Sumney - Sophomore - UNCG
5. Dena O'Brien - Freshman - College of Charleston
6. Amy Neilson - Senior - Appalachian State
7. Anneli Uys - Senior - Chattanooga
All-SoCon Second Team - Women
8. Brittney Caudle - Sophomore - Appalachian State
9. Ina Ables - Senior - Samford
10. Morgan Turner - Sophomore - Western Carolina
11. Kristen Wolfe - Junior - College of Charleston
12. Brooke Mosteller - Junior - Furman
13. Heather Conarroe - Senior - Davidson
14. Dani Reese - Senior - Appalachian State
All-SoCon Freshman Team - Men
14. Lucas Cotter - Chattanooga
21. Nick Schneider - Elon
28. Andrew Nelson - College of Charleston
34. Layton Dorsett - Samford
35. Grayam Sailor-Tynes - Davidson
37. Ben Perron - Elon
39. Kenny Hinman - UNCG
All-SoCon Freshman Team - Women
5. Dena O'Brien - College of Charleston
22. Allyson Oram - Elon
26. Destine Kirkman - Appalachian State
27. Jackie Madden - Elon
30. Danielle McKee - The Citadel
40. Catherine Burton - Furman
42. Claire Grogan - Samford
Freshman of the Year - Women
Dena O'Brien - College of Charleston
