Gaston College races longer distance on Saturday in Columbia, S.C. against 4-year schools
Gaston College women's cross country coach Kody Kubbs spends his seasons involving his Rhinos' runners in various training regimens in hopes of having his team primed for the Region 10 championships.
On Saturday, Gaston College ran a longer distance than before and competed against 17 other four-year schools in Saturday's Akiah McMillan Invitational at the Columbia College, S.C., Cross Country course.
After running 5-kilometer events in their first three meets, the Rhinos ran a 6-kilometer course and finished 13th out of the 16 competing teams.
Freshman Kierieonna Wilson was again Gaston College's individual medalist with a time of 24:49.7 that left her in 13th place of a race with 114 runners.
Other scorers were freshman Abigail Presley (84th overall, 74 score, 33:14.7 time), sophomore Stefani Vergara-Delgado (89th overall, 79 score, 34:12.9 time), freshman Abbygale King (92nd overall, 81 score, 34:55.1 time) and freshman Abigale Harris (98th overall, 87 score, 36:07.4 time).
Sophomore Leah Treat also competed in the event.
"It was a 6K instead of the traditional 5K," Kubbs said. "So this week in practice and next week, we're trying to build a base and not focusing so much on speed. We used this 6K as part of our training block.
"It was a good experience for the girls to add some distance."
Savannah College of Art and Design, a four-year NAIA school, won the team title with an aggregate score of 39 while Jackline Kosgei (22:18.7) of second-place NCAA Division II school UNC Pembroke was the individual medalist.
"There were 18 schools in the competition and it was a chance for us to compete with them while running a longer distance," Kubbs said. "I thought it worked out really well for us today."
Gaston College is off next week before running in a 9 a.m. Oct. 14 event at NCAA Division I USC Upstate.
That will be the final tuneup before the Oct. 28 Region 10 championships hosted this year by Shelby's Cleveland Community College.