Nashville, Tenn. - The Stetson cross country teams wrapped up the 2011 season by finishing ninth (men) and 10th (women) in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships at the Vaughn's Gap Course, hosted by Belmont University.
In the men's 8K race, sophomore Andrew Epifanio (DeLand, Fla.) was Stetson's top finisher, placing 56th in a time of 27:33.86, a personal record. Other personal records set by Stetson men's harriers were freshman Jeremy Butler (Mims, Fla.) and sophomore Deryck Greene (Jacksonville, Fla.) in 29:15.18 and 32:22.80, respectively.
USC Upstate put three runners in the top 10, including back-to-back individual champion Gilbert Kemboi, to claim its first A-Sun men's cross country championship with a total of 69 points (finishers 1-6-10-17-35) to beat out defending champion Kennesaw State (79) and host Belmont (84). The Hatters finished ninth with 296 points, trailing Lipscomb (90), North Florida (94), ETSU (104), Mercer (145) and FGCU (177) as well as the Spartans, Owls and Bruins. Stetson beat out Jacksonville (314) for ninth place.
STETSON MEN'S RESULTS
56) Andrew Epifanio - 27:33.86; 64) Kyle Burton - 28:01.15; 71) Jeremy Butler - 29:15.18; 73) Brian Dughi - 31:42.93; 78) Deryck Greene - 32:22.80; 79) Matthew Ady - 36:43.51
The women's 5K race saw senior Maria Harper (Tallahassee, Fla.) complete her college career with a time of 19:23.00, good for 37th place overall. Sophomore Sabrina Guzsvany (Port Orange, Fla.) also finished under 21 minutes, clocking in at 20:11.50 in 53rd place.
Lipscomb won the A-Sun women's cross country championship for the first time, putting three runners in the top 10 and bringing home its entire top five in 17th place or better for a 53-point total and a 16-point margin over runner up North Florida, the defending champion. Host Belmont (81) took third with USC Upstate placing fourth at 91 points.
The fourth place Spartans racked up 1-2-3 finishes with Jemeli Sang, Joan Tangwar and Caroline Chelulei but lost out on the team title as the the three teams ahead of them all brought their entire five-woman scoring packs in before the next USC Upstate runner crossed the finish line. Following were Jacksonville (122), Mercer (169), FGCU (193), ETSU (197), Kennesaw State (202 and finally the Hatters (279).
STETSON WOMEN'S RESULTS
37) Maria Harper - 19:23.00; 53) Sabrina Guzsvany - 20:11.50; 70) Alyssa Thompson - 21:53.60; 74) Christine Iseley - 22:16.10; 76) Shannon Harrell - 22:45.90; 77) Tabitha Castrillon - 22:51.50; 78) Stephanie Bird - 24:01.70
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