LOUISVILLE, KY. – Charleston Southern's cross country teams ran in one of the premier meets within the college ranks Saturday morning and each squad turned in a solid performance as they raced in the top meet at the competition as well. The men's team took a 6^th place finish overall and had the women cross in 25^th with the men's race featuring 39 teams and the women's with 36 having 39 teams.
 
The men started off quickly in the first 2 kilometers with the men holding first. The top seven runners were all within the top 25 and had the first five for CSU all within a second of one another. When the teams had neared the halfway point at 3.9 KM, CSU was still the top overall team, but the field had started to spread out with Micah Gilpatric as the last Buc in the lead pack of just six runners.
 
By the time the Buccaneers crossed the finish line after the eight kilometers, some had fallen off the pace as they slipped down to 6^th overall as a team. Gilpatric was the first finisher for Charleston Southern with an overall finish of 20^th and time of 24:08. Sam Waldin was close behind as he was in 28^th at 24:16 with Jaden Kingsley next in 39^th at 24:27. Rounding out the scorers were Caleb Kenyon at 24:32 and freshman Conan Harper at 24:46. The Wedding twins finished off CSU's top seven as Jeff was in 24:57 and Zack at 25:16.
 
Taking the team title was Grand Valley State, edging out Adams State by a point. Both teams are ranked in the top seven in the D2 National rankings. Additionally, Purdue was next with West Texas A&M and East Central, both within the top ten of their division's National Rankings. CSU finished ahead of both Clemson and Louisville and were ahead of conference-foe UNC Asheville as well.
 
In the women's race, they also got off to a fast start across in the board in their 5K as they sat in 11^th after the first checkpoint at 2.1 KM. Keerstin Augustin and Sarah McCartney went back-to-back at the finish line coming in 28^th and 29^th at 17:39 and 17:41. Sarah Jacobs was next for the Bucs at 18:46. Taylor White and Kallie Henderson had solid performances at the meet with times of 19:18 and 19:35 for the top five finishers.

For the women, the same two teams took the top spots in the race. Charleston Southern however was able to edge out College of Charleston in the team standings, avenging their runner-up finish to them in the season opening meet.  
 
The Buccaneers will be back in action on Saturday, October 14 as they will be racing at USC Upstate. The Spartans are slated to host the NCAA Southeast Regionals later this fall as well with this race to serve as a course preview for the team.
 
Men's Results
20. Micah Gilpatric – 24:08.4 (20)
28. Sam Waldin – 24:16.2 (28)  
39. Jaden Kingsley – 24:27.0 (39)
52. Caleb Kenyon – 24:32.4 (52)
73. Conan Harper – 24:46.7 (72)
94. Jeff Wedding – 24:57.1 (90)
136. Zack Wedding – 25:16.7 (128)
186. Griffin Gillespie – 25:34.09
332. Jack McGahey – 26:55.8
351. Mason Raasch – 27:18.9
 
Women's Results
28. Keerstin Augustin – 17:39.9 (28)
29. Sarah McCartney – 17:41.1 (29)
156. Sarah Jacobs – 18:46.7 (146)            
223. Taylar White – 19:18.3 (201)            
261. Kallie Henderson –19:35.9 (225)
268. Charliza Antia – 19:38.8 (228)          
273. Anne Akagi – 19:43.3 (231)
--. Freya Buglass – DNF
 
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