The Golden Tigers Set The Pace
CENTRAL, Sc - The Golden Tigers cross country team traveled yesterday morning to compete in the Southern Wesleyan Warrior Invitational. The race had proven to be very tough, when considering the hills and wet conditions.
The Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) was represented well, with four teams in attendance: Auburn University at Montgomery, Brenau University, Emmanuel College, and Southern Wesleyan University.
The Southern Wesleyan Warriors finished first on their home course. The Golden Tigers trailed Emmanuel by 1 point, as they left AUM in the dust.
Coach Susan McIntyre said, "We cannot focus on competing with teams until we have all six of our members racing...hopefully, Sarah Saenz will make her debut in our next race in October. With the five runners we had today, we still managed to finish 4th out of 6 teams."
The most impressive part of the day was when Coach McIntyre watched as one of her freshmen, placed pressure on SWU's sophomore, on her home course. Erica Segars crossed the finish line 6 seconds ahead of Brenau's own Brittany Aikens.
Aikens (Brasselton, GA) made her presence known at the race, as she gave Southern Wesleyan's veteran the run of her career. Freshmen stand-out, Brittany Aikens, was awarded 2nd place at the 5k invitational, with a time of 20:12. The remaining members of the team were running very close together, which was great in the effort to keep Brenau's score low. Ana Lopera (Flowery Branch, GA) finished in 22:59, while Ashley Tolland (Cumming, GA) completed the course in 23:17. Anahi Ruiz (Gainesville, GA) has continued to improve at a drastic rate, as she finished the race with a time of 23:50. Newcomer Nelli Martirosyan (Yerevan, Armenia) made a strong effort on the demanding course, finishing at 27:09.
The Golden Tigers return to the course at the Choctaw Invitational in Clinton, Mississippi, on October 15th.