Saturday was the opening date for the Women’s and Men’s Cross Country teams of VSU. The teams traveled to Due West, SC to compete in the Erskine Invitational were the women’s field was 9 teams strong and the men’s field was 8 deep. The results are pleasing.

The women ran first sporting a good combination of veteran and new team members. The distance covered over a European style course was 4K [2.48 miles]. Jordanne Helton [16:40] and Angelina Horne [16:44] placed 5th and 6th respectively overall out of 68 competitors. The overall champion ran 16:12.0, Rosa Young of Spartanburg Methodist. Ashley Luther [17:42] placed 17th, senior’s Neka Gibbs [17:59] and Ashley Hiott [18:40] placed 20th and 28th. 31st was earned by Tiffany Zuganelis [18:58], and Ashley Claassen placed 51st and Andrea Smith placed 65th. The Lady Blazers placed third with 71 points while Pfeiffer was the winning team with 52 points.

As the sun continued to climb to warm up the South Carolina atmosphere, the men prepared to battle teams over the 6K distance [3.72 miles] who had either beaten the Blazer’s in 2008, or were ranked in the preseason region polls. Mars Hill and host Erskine College are ranked 4th and 6th in the Southeast Region and proceeded to place 1st and 2nd in the meet with scores of 43 and 51. VSU placed 3rd in the team competition with 64, while a team that beat the Blazers twice last year placed 4th with 105 points. Chris Rice [20:42] led the team placing 6th overall while Erskine harrier Adam Groblewski won the meet with a time of 19:49. Austin McDonald [21:12] and seniors Alan McGough [21:13] and Steve Cary [21:44] placed 9th, 10th and 15th in the field of 62 people. Corey Stejback [22:42], Terence Boyd [23:17], Kenny Brooks [23:33], Marc Kaiser [24:49] and Daniel McCormick [24:53] all placed in the top 50 with Stejback leading the way in 25th.

Next up for the teams is a trip to Memphis, TN to compete against 34 others DI and DII teams at Christian Brothers University’s Twilight Invitational. The women will compete at the 5K distance while the men go up to 4 miles.

More information about events in the surrounding area of South Georgia contact Get Active Running and more at 229-219-0010 or acourseline@earthlink.net. :