Gaston College cross country runner becomes first regular season medalist in school history
Gaston College's women's cross country program opened its 2023 season by setting history in the Pfeiffer Cross Country Invitational on Saturday.
Freshman Keirieonna Wilson became the school's first regular season medalist and highest regular season finisher as the Rhinos finished sixth out of a seven-team field with six four-year schools on the Women's 5K course.
Wilson, a freshman from Statesville, finished sixth overall with a school-best time of 21:31.1 for head coach Kody Kubbs' team.
Wilson became the second individual medalist for the Gaston College in its three-year women's cross country history after Victoria Perez was the school's medalist for each of the 10 meets in which she competed in the last two seasons.
Wilson bettered Perez's personal school-record time of 22:27.78 that was set in the 2022 National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10 championships in Spartanburg, S.C.; Perez's third-place finish in that postseason meet is still a school-best overall finish.
Wilson was the Rhinos' top individual scorer on Saturday as freshmen Abigail Presley (36th place with a 32 score), Abbygale King (44th place with a 39 score) and Alayna Cook (48th place with a 41 score) and returning sophomore Stefani Vergara-Delgado (37th place with 33 score) rounded out Gaston College's five scorers.
Abigale Harris (49th place), Leah Treat (52nd) and Maytalene Lopez (54th) also competed for the Rhinos.
Host Pfeiffer of the NCAA Division III USA South Atlantic Conference, was team champion with 28 points and had the overall individual medalist Madison Lowery, who ran the course in 18:53.0.
Winston-Salem State of the NCAA Division II CIAA finished second, Francis Marion of NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas was third, Charlotte's Johnson & Wales of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association was fourth, Charlotte's Johnson C. Smith of the CIAA was fifth and Averett of the NCAA Division II Old Dominion Athletic Conference was seventh.
"It was just a great first meet for our runners," Kubbs said. "I can't express how happy I am with how we ran. From our No. 1 to our No. 8 everybody impressed."
Gaston College returns to action next Saturday at the Yeti Invitiational at Shelby's Cleveland Community College in a meet that will begin at 9:45 a.m.
"It's an opportunity to get out on the course," Kubbs said of a course that will host the Region 10 championships on Oct. 28. "The best way to find out a course is to race a course and that's what we'll be looking to do."