Spartanburg – North Greenville Men's Cross Country finished 8^th at the Converse Kickoff on Saturday with a time of 26:58. 
 
The Crusaders finished with a total time of 2:14:49 as a team. Hayden Goode led the Crusaders with a 16^thplace finish with a time of 25:54. Thomas Schilling capped his weekend with a new personal best and 55^thplace finish, crossing the finish line in 26:54. 
 
Mason White finished 63^rd with a time of 27:11 while Ryland Kowalski finished in 74^th with a time of 27:27. Matthew Heath added a time of 27:38 and finished in 78^th. Chas Brewer added a personal best time of 27:56 along with Cohen McDonald at 28:06 and Nick Lavelle at 28:17. David Kushner finished with a new personal best with a time of 28:58. 
 
From Coach Stober 
"It was a beautiful morning for cross country. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. This meet had a lot more competition than our last race. Running against good competition always helps bring out our best.
 
The men raced first and were led by Hayden Goode. I thought Hayden had a solid race today. He was able to bounce back from a not so great race a couple of weeks ago. If he can stay healthy and confident, he will be dangerous. He finished top 15 among collegiate runners. Thomas Schilling had a big race, stepping up and running as our #2. He ran over a minute and thirty seconds faster than our previous race. I'm excited to see how he continues to progress. Mason had a tough day, but still showed a lot of grit and was able to run #3 for us. Im confident that he will bounce back in a couple of weeks. Joel, in his first ever collegiate race had a great performance and ran as our #4. I'm excited to see where he's at by the end of the season. Ryland rounded out our top 5 running within 10 seconds of a PB. Ryland is looking good and has been more consistent than ever. I'm happy for him and proud of him. Matthew had a good race and ran a minute faster than he did on the same course at the end of last season. I thought Chas had a great day. He really put his nose in there, ran hard, and ended up with a PB of over a minute. Cohen didn't have the day that he wanted, but he still managed to run a PB. I'm excited to see him bounce back in two weeks. Solomon ran well and ended up within 20 seconds of his PB. I can see him running a big PB within the next two races. Nick also ran a PB today despite rolling an ankle during the race. David also had a big PB (almost a full minute). He's getting better each week. 
 
On the women's side, freshman Cecily Anderton led the way. She had a phenomenal race and ended up running a time that is currently the 4th fastest 6K time in program history. I'm excited to see where she can be by the end of the season. Another freshman, Riley Shope, had a solid race and also ran a top ten time in program history. Her time today puts her at #7 all-time for the 6K in program history. I'm excited to see what she can do…she's got a lot of potential. Riley Nicholson had a tough day, but showed a lot of toughness to battle through some mid race adversity. She's tough and she's got a lot of potential as well. I know she will bounce back and can do some big things with the remainder of our races. Paris ran an awesome race. She really went for it and came within a second of a PB. It was good to see her race the way that she did today. Senior captain Kylie Futrell finally had the 6K race that we knew she was capable of all along. She ran almost a full minute faster than her previous PB. It's been so good to see her running consistently at a level that she's capable of. She had a tough couple of years, but she has been one of the most consistent runners in program history. She's an example of why you keep working hard. I'm so happy to see where she's at now. I thought Emma ran a good race today. She's had a good mindset all week and has pushed herself. Today was a culmination of a good week for her. Zoie has been dealing with some shin issues and her training has been limited for the past couple of weeks. But the fact that she went out and gave it a hard effort says a lot about her. If we can get her healthy, she's certainly capable of being a potential top 5 runner for us. Kaylee also ran a good race. I think she's in a good place right now and will continue to see improvement throughout the rest of this season. I know Kacey didn't have the race that she wanted today, but I'm so proud of her. She's another girl that has been so consistent with her training. She's a hard worker (she put in a ton of miles this summer). I think if something "clicks" for her on race day, that she can really surprise herself. 
 
Overall, I thought we had a really good day. We were able to walk away with a lot more positives than negatives. My hope is that we can get/stay healthy. If we can do that, I think we are capable of doing really well as a team this season. I'm so proud of our team, and I'm so blessed to be their coach."
 
Next up 
The Crusaders will run in the Division II Southeast Preview on September 30^th.