Greenville Grouping Carries Panthers To Win
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FULL RESULTS
Greenville College was able to pick up the programs 13th SLIAC Men's Cross Country Championship title thanks to a strong team showing in Louisville, Ky. The Panthers did not have a runner in the top five but took spots 6-11 to keep the team points low. Greenville finished with 40 team points, the lowest team score since 2011. The Panthers were paced by Jacob Burrell, who finished the race in a time of 26:43. Greenville's six consecutive finishers came within 28-seconds of each other. After Burrell crossed the finish line John Mangold took seventh place. The next four finishers were Nathan Allyn, Nathan Potts, Dylan Goodyear, and Jaylen Shelton which sealed the team win for the Panthers, with the pack of four crossing just two seconds apart.
It was a group of teammates that battled for the individual title as well with the Panthers from Principia College pushing each other during the race. Zach Matthiesen and Nate Richards defined what a teammate is, staying with each other from start to finish. The duo paced themselves at the start with defending SLIAC champion Brandon Price holding the early lead. However the Principia duo overtook Price during the second loop on the back of the course and were able to hold off any push from Price following the move.
It was Matthiesen and Richards in the clear on the final stretch with Matthiesen pulling away from richards as the neared the finish line, crossing in a winning time of 25:34. Matthiesen becomes the 7th different runner from Principia to claim the conference individual title, joining his teammate Richards, who took second place, on that list. Principia also took third place with Michael Powell finishing in 26:09.
Price finished fourth in the race with a time of 26:12. Fifth place was taken by Westminster's Glenn Teubner. Other top finishers for teams in the race were Riley Flynn from Webster (27:13), Brandon Ceh from Eureka College (30:20), Cody Bumgardner from Blackburn College (35:32), and Chris Graham from Fontbonne (36:56).
The 2016 SLIAC Newcomer of the Year is Dylan Goodyear from Greenville College. In addition the Principia College team was named thte 2016 SLIAC Team Sportsmanship winner.
