Columbus State Sweeps Jaguar Invitational

AUGUSTA, GA -- The Columbus State men’s and women’s cross country teams swept the Jaguar Invitational on Saturday morning at the Blanchard Woods trail, the same course that will host the PBC Championships in October. On the men’s side, the Cougars had three runners in the top 10 to finish with 52 points, just edging out Nova Southeastern who was second with 54. The scoring was not as close on the women’s side as the Lady Cougars put four runners in the top 15 for 52 points, ahead of Augusta State with 66. Eight men’s and 15 women’s teams competed in the event.

In the women’s race, CSU’s Isabel Speer was the top PBC finisher, coming in second in 25:07 over the 6k course. Her teammate Ashey Arnold was third in 25:34 while Lachish McCurklin was 13th in 26:54, less than a second ahead of Kandace Smith, who was also officially timed at 26:54.

Augusta State’s top finisher was Annie Kim who booked a 25:53.79, while ASU junior Jenafer Forward was seventh at 26:05.86 and senior Kristyn Holley was eighth at 26:18.81. Sophomore Kara Kreutzer gave the Jags four top-20 efforts when she turned in a time of 26:58.56, good for 16th place. Freshman Lindsay Barber was 30th at 28:07.13, sophomore Sophie Baconnet was 37th at 28:23.88 and freshman Marybeth Sardina finished 78th at 31:24.51.

Georgia College & State University finished third in the women’s race as Bonnie Ueltzen was 10th in 26:44 and Dani Destiche 11th in 26:47. Lander scored sixth as a team behind the effort of Olga Nunez-Lopez who finished fourth overall in 25:47.

The other Peach Belt teams running in the race were North Georgia (7th, 209), Francis Marion (8th, 219), USC Aiken (10th, 242), Clayton State (12th, 316) and Georgia Southwestern (14th, 371). Carson-Newman’s Aubrey Morris won the race in 24:41.

In the men’s race, Columbus State’s Tim English crossed the line fourth, covering the long 10k distance in 35:46. CSU’s Adam Pugh was eighth in 36:28 while Stewart Helton was ninth in 36:32.

Clayton State’s Walid Berkhedle was the highest PBC finisher in the race, coming in third in a time of 35:36, just two seconds out of second place. Anthony Aguilar was next for the Lakers, coming in 11th in 36:41.

Georgia College & State University finished fifth with 108 points behind Josh Hollar who was 15th in 36:54. North Georgia was just behind in sixth with 151 as Michael Valentine finished 16th in 36:55. Francis Marion rounded out the PBC teams in the event in seventh place with 183 points. Jay Moulton was the high finisher for the Patriots, coming in 27th in a time of 38:07. Benedict’s Emmanuel Kirwa won the men’s race with a time of 34:04.

See the full men's results here (pdf file).

See the full women's results here (pdf file)