The Bears' cross country team traveled to Florence, Alabama to compete in the NCAA regional tournament Nov. 12. The six men finished in 20th place out of 25 teams while the two women finished 133 and 198 respectively out of 231 runners.
Freshman Laney Doster and senior Giulia Giorgi competed in the 6,000-meter race together. Doster finished with a freshman record time of 22:49 while Giorgi finished with a time of 24:33.
The men competed in the 10,000-meter race. Vladimir Zander-Velloso came first among the Bears at 75th place with a time of 31:50. Behind him was 98th-ranked Conner Kaufman who came in at 32:23. Zander-Velloso’s finish was the second-best all-time for Mercer over that distance.
Outside of the top 100, Reece Cato, Chris French and Sebasthian Rodriguez finished in places 123, 153 and 162 respectively with times of 33:17, 35:06 and 36:11. Joshua Kraver did not finish the race.
“The team benefited from the experience gained and left us excited to move up in the region in these coming seasons," Head Coach Josh Hayman told Mercer Athletics. "The future is very bright for this young group.”
This was the final competition of the Fall season for Mercer cross country. The men finished in third place in the conference, the highest they ever have, while the women placed ninth in the conference.
Keith Holmes Jr. ‘22 is a journalism and creative writing double major who has worked with The Cluster as general staff since his Sophomore year. Keith has received Best in SNO awards for his sports articles along with years of work at Mercer’s ESPN3 branch. Keith spends his free time playing video games and writing fiction around campus.
