GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman cross country team heads just up the road to Greeneville, Tenn. for the Tusculum Open, the squad's first race in 664 days.
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Carson-Newman cross country team heads just up the road to Greeneville, Tenn. for the Tusculum Open, the squad's first race in 664 days on Friday, Sept. 3. The Eagles did not compete during the 2020-21 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tusculum Open will be a 5K race for both the men and women on the campus of Tusculum University. The host Pioneers and South Atlantic Conference rival Lincoln Memorial will also compete at the event. The women's 5K begins at 6:45 PM and the men's 5K begins at 7:15 PM. Live updates will be available on Twitter at the new home for Carson-Newman Athletics, @cn_eagles.
"This meet is going to help us get a look at some of the teams in our conference and get us ready for them," says cross country coach Mike Spooner. "In terms of distance, this meet will help our guys with the changes we've made and gives them a shorter distance earlier in the year. It's more familiar to them and what they ran in high school and gets them back into the form of racing. It helps the women also see the actual pace they will run during the year. The main thing is getting out there and racing again."
This is the third time that the Eagles have competed at the Tusculum Open, the last time just over four years to the day on Sept. 1, 2017. Both the men's and the women's teams finished third at the event. Luke Greer won the individual men's championship in the 5K race with a time of 15:38.00. The women's team won the event championship at the 2016 Tusculum Open with a score of 34 points. Sky McCarter also won the individual championship with a time of 22:00.90 in the women's 5K.
"We've approached this year with a different style and system," says Spooner. "We've had more accountability and structure into the program and have grown with Kelly Brock and the PT program and Jonny Long and the strength staff and we've seen this team grow a lot before the season."
The Eagles have three returners on the men's team and five on the women's team. Kirby Logan III returns with the fastest 8K time of 26:59.7 and the fastest 10K time of 35:41.8. Rachel Strayer has the fastest women's 5K time at 18:12.5 and 6K time of 21:39.6.
Strayer became the first Carson-Newman women's runner in 11 years to compete at the NCAA Divsion II cross country national championships in 2019. Strayer finished 101st out of 290 runners with a new personal best 6K time of 21:39.6. Strayer was named a 2021 Runner to Watch by the South Atlantic Conference.
"Rachel is a pro's pro," says Spooner. "She's being doing great and has an affect on the other runners on the women's team as well. We've had a few runners push themselves to keep up with her and she has pushed herself to get better. I'm excited for how she does on raceday."
On the men's side, Raymond Brugmans was named as a men's Runner to Watch by the South Atlantic Conference. This will be Brugmans first year running cross country, but the Netherlands native had a successful indoor track & field season in 2020, finishing just eight seconds from tying the school record in the men's indoor 800 meter run in his first race at Carson-Newman with a time of 1:57.79. Brugmans recorded his first career win in the mile race at the 2021 Run As Fast As You Can Invitational with a time of 4:35.57.
"The men's team has had a lot of growth," says Spooner. "They succeed in the ability to feed off of one another. Ray attacks the beginning of workouts and races, and that trickles down throughout the team. The meets we do better at will be on Ray's shoulders and he loves that role and responsibility. I'm excited to see them despite their youth. It's not about the distance with them, it's giving them the mentality of wanting to race."
The Carson-Newman women's cross country squad was predicted to finish seventh place while the men were predicted to finish eighth place in the 2021 SAC cross country preseason poll. This is the fourth straight preseason poll the men's team has been ranked eighth to start the cross country season. The women have been predicted to finish inside the top-10 of the South Atlantic Conference every year since 2010.
The Eagles will look to win their first race as a team since both teams won the Maryville College Invitational in 2016. Individually, Hannah Greene lead the women's team with a third place finish at the event in the 5K run with a time of 26:07.58 while Amos Korir won the event in the men's 8K run with a time of 29:05.60.
Carson-Newman will wait just 21 days between races following their gallop in Greeneville for their first of three races at McAlpine Park in Charlotte, N.C. this season for the Queen City Invite on Friday, Sept. 24.
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