Trojans Finish 8th and 10th at Sun Belt Championships

Saturday, October 29

Dothan, Ala.

All Day

Troy University

Sun Belt Championships

Trojans Finish 8th and 10th at Sun Belt Championships

10/29/2016 12:01:00 PM | Cross Country

By: Russ Schaffer

DOTHAN, Alabama – The Sun Belt Championships were held on Saturday morning and the men took 8th place in the 8k event with 179 points and the women took 10^th place in the 5k with 235 points.

Sophomore Bradley Dixon was the top finisher on the men's side as he came in 28^th place with a time of 26:24.3. The finish was 12 spots better than what any male placed in the 2015 Sun Belt Championships.

After him came a slew of Trojans who took top-50 finishes. Sophomore Daniel Glick came in 32^nd with a time of 26:29.6. He was followed by sophomore Ryan DeGale , who placed 38^th at 26:52.7.

Sophomores Brennan Garriques and Sawyer Sprung finished 40^th and 41^st with times of 27:03.3 and 27:05.7, respectively.

The final two finishers were junior Eric Schueller, who took 51^st with a time of 27:33.3, and sophomore Zachary Bias, who rounded out the group in 54^th with a time of 27:51.4.

Coming in first place on the team on the women's side was senior Samantha Smith. Racing in her last meet in Alabama, the Sonora, Calif. native placed 26^th with a time of 19:34.3.

Junior Sara Zylstra came next, just a shade below 20 minutes at 20:02.7 for 42^nd place.
Troy had back-to-back finishers in 52^nd and 53^rd place with freshman Erika Kulp at 20:27.5 and senior Mikayla Hodges at 20:31.5, respectively.

The next two Troy runners had a mirrored finish as freshman Katherine Lowe took 62^nd at 21:05.7 and senior Katrina Bokenfohr took 63^rd at 21:16.2.

The final racer for Troy was sophomore Krystin Guirey in 68^th place at 21:35.6.

Quotable:
"We came out here two weeks ago with the women and they all ran faster," head coach Elliott Blount said. "We took a step back in the conference standings, which is a testament to how good this conference is.

"On the men's side, we didn't run our best. We needed a perfectly run race and a perfectly executed race, and we just didn't do that today. We fell a little flat. You can chalk it up to being a little green, a little young, but we just didn't perform. There's no excuse for that.

"We've got a lot of work to do. We have a young program. I'm still very excited for the direction of the overall program. We just need to learn how to perform at big meets for both the men and women."

Notable:
• Dixon's time of 26:24.3 was more than a minute faster than last year's best finisher, DeGale who ran 27:26.40 in 2015.

• Glick, racing in his third meet in a row, set his season and career best time at 26:29.6.

• Though Troy will lose Bokenfohr, Hodges and Smith on the women's side to graduation, the men will return all of their runners as the oldest competitor was Schueller in his junior year.

Up Next:

The Troy men's cross country team will move on to compete in the NCAA South Regionals on Nov. 11.

For more information on Troy cross country and Troy athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com and follow the Trojans on social media at @TroyAthletics.