Gaston College finishes second in Region 10 championships, freshman runner qualifies for NJCAA national championship meet

For the second straight season, Gaston College's women's cross country team finished as Region 10 runner-up and had a third-place overall finisher that qualifies her for the next month's National Junior College Athletic Association national championships.

This year at the Cleveland Community College course in Shelby, freshman Keirieonna Wilson led coach Kody Kubbs' team and her 20-minute, 51-second finish will make her Gaston College's second qualifier for the NJCAA national championships.

Wilson joins 2022 qualifier Victoria Perez as the first two Rhinos in school history to qualify for the NJCAA national championships.

"I feel good," said Wilson, whose 20:51.0 time bettered Perez's 22:27.8 third-place time from a year ago. "I'm tired and sore but it feels good."

Gaston College's individual medalist in each of the Rhinos' first three meets this season, Wilson was competing for the first time since Sept. 30 due to a leg strain.

"She bounced back really well from that," Kubbs said of Wilson. "The hardest thing with a runner like that is getting her not to run because she's been itching to add miles and get prepared. We've had her on the elliptical machine and on the stationary bike. It's tough because she wants to be out there."

Gaston College's second and third runners for most of this season - freshman Abigail Presley and sophomore Stefani Vergara-Delgado - were unable to compete in Saturday's meet but the Rhinos had four freshman step up to give them a team score of 44.

Abigale Harris (28:14.5 time) finished 13th for a team score of nine, Alayna Cook (29:42.4) 16th for a 10, Abbygale King (30:19.4) 18th for an 11 and Maytalene Lopez (31:03.7) 20 for a 12. Sophomore Leah Treat (32:18.4) finished 21st.

"We knew coming in it could be tough," Kubbs said. "But the girls picked each other up."

Wilson competes next in the Nov. 11 NJCAA national championship meet at Huntsville, Ala.