Men Finish Third, Women Take Seventh at Conference Championships

Saturday, October 27

Mobile, Ala.

all day

Troy University

Sun Belt Conference Championships

Men Finish Third, Women Take Seventh at Conference Championships

10/27/2018 3:24:00 PM | Cross Country

By: Troy Athletics Communications

Men's Results | Women's Results

Mobile, Ala. – Led by seniors Brennan Garriques and Sawyer Sprung landing top-15 finishes, the Troy men's cross country team finished third while the women finished seventh at the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Saturday morning at Brookley Field Course.

The men racked up 90 points to secure the bronze medal, the best men's finish in school history at the Sun Belt Championships, with UT Arlington taking home the crown, tallying 66 points. Troy women collected 184 points, only five behind sixth-placed Coastal Carolina, and Appalachian State claimed the title with 45 points.

Garriques paced the men with a 14th-place finish in 25:46.33. Sprung (25:47.91) and senior Brackin Stewart (25:48.05) followed right behind Garriques, crossing the finish line in 15th and 16th respectively. Junior Daniel Glick turned in a 26:01.06 eight-kilometer time, securing 22nd place while senior Bradley Dixon finished right behind Glick in 23rd in 26:03.15 to round out the scorers for Troy.

"Our spread was amazing," head coach Elliott Blount said. "When you look at Brackin (Stewart) who has been running lights out all year, took a shot today, that's who he is, and it wouldn't have been right if he didn't and I was happy with that. Plus, our other men stepped up and I'm super proud of these guys."

"Brennan (Garriques) has been unbelievable and he has been a motivation for me and these guys, and for him to go out and end the season like this, it was emotional for me. I love the effort today and how everyone picked each other up today. Yeah, we would've loved to win, that was the plan but when it didn't happen and they performed like they did, I'm still proud of them."

Freshman Tanner Guest paced the women in the 5k race, finishing in a season-best time of 18:31.02 which gave her 23rd. Sophomores Kara Coulter (35th) and Christie Caruana (37th) rounded out the top-three finishers for Troy, securing respective times of 19:02.58 and 19:07.08. Freshman Caroline Sall landed in 43rd with a season best time of 19:20.06 and sophomore Michaela Ashley grabbed the last scoring time for Troy with a personal best 19:21.41.

"The girls ran well today," Blount said. "They are such a young team, and this is the first time where the team was in decent shape and was able to run in a heightened-competitive situation and they were a little overwhelmed. It was very telling where we have to work and improve."

"This team is so talented, and I told them that they are the core of where this program is headed. It burns right now, and it should, but in the long run it will pay off. Tanner (Guest) got better every meet this year, Caroline (Sall) has been 'Ms. Consistent' and this was her first championship too, so we have to get her championship ready as well as Kara (Coulter). Michaela (Ashley) had a PR run, so we had some great things happen, it was just our first time in this championship environment but for them to still run the best they've had, you have to be happy for that."

Personal Record
Senior Krystin Guirey recorded a personal best in her last Sun Belt Championship 5k in 19:41.43. This personal best marked her third consecutive race where she has set her personal record.

All-Sun Belt
Garriques and Sprung landed on the All-Sun Belt Third Team with their respective 14th and 15th place finishes.

Up Next
Troy will prepare for the NCAA Division I South Regional on Friday, Nov. 9 held at Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.