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| Appalachian Open spells
victory for Men’s team and second for Women’s |
Allie Woods
Sports Beat
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Jacque Lenz | The Appalachian |
As the pack made their way
around the 5,000k State Farm course, two Appalachian State University
runners were in the lead. The home crowd urged them on and they
became excited, then in a good show of emotion and team spirit senior
Sarah Primeau and junior Alisha Little slapped hands and pushed
on.
“Everyone was yelling for us and it seemed
like a natural movement,” said Little.
Primeau and Little were unable to hold their
position at the top but did finish second and fourth respectively.
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“I
felt pretty good, I’m more excited about the team than anything,”
said Primeau. “The team’s performance was really good.
Everyone was real competitive and showed face today.”
The ASU women were able to grab three of the
top 10 positions, but fell four points shy of the University of
Maryland to finish second overall.
Little gave a very gutsy performance to finish
fourth. Her training time and effort have been cut back significantly
lately because of a sore Achilles tendon.
“It was great to have her up there. I felt
so much stronger with a teammate next to me. She’s tough; I
can’t believe she actually came out here and did it,”
said Primeau of Little’s effort.
Picked second in the Southern Conference, the
women’s team is confident they will be able to turn some heads
and emerge victorious. Little and Primeau said they like the team’s
position as underdog in the conference race. They are also pleased
with everyone’s effort and improvement over the summer when
several people were able to drop a minute off their time.
“People don’t realize this is a team
sport. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have other people
that were counting on me, and me counting on other people,”
said Primeau.
The men’s team was also in action at State
Farm on Friday running an 8,000k race. They are picked to win the
Southern Conference and complete a three-peat championship.
This year’s team will be lead by junior
Mike Reed, who also won Friday’s race. Reed, a Florida native,
also ran in last weeks four-mile race, placing sixth. He wanted
to try his hand against teams like Florida State University, Wake
Forest University, Clemson University and West Florida University.
ASU had six runners place in the top 15, which
gave them a comfortable team victory over second place Maryland.
This year’s team wants to qualify for the
regional meet and make it another banner year for Appalachian cross
country.
Junior Carson Blackwelder finished sixth on Friday,
“I feel very good, we have all the talent
right here, we just need to work our butts off,” said Blackwelder
about his team’s chances to win the Southern Conference.
East Tennessee State University looks to make
it tough on Appalachian this season, but the guys are up to the
challenge.
The men’s and women’s teams will be
off to the races again on Sept. 27 when they will be taking part
in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Charlotte. |
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