This weekend the cross country teams went right down the road the Milliken Arboretum in Spartanburg for the annual Converse Kickoff. In the past, this meet has been on the smaller side. However, this year, the field consisted of 22 teams on the men's side and 21 teams on the women's side as runners from Division I, II, III, and NAIA schools took to the turf. Being the DII Southeast regional and the Conference Carolinas Championship course this year, the Trailblazers had the opportunity to see where they stood among conference and regional competition. 
 
For the women, freshman Ellie Timmons had the race of the day. She crossed the finish with a 6k time of 23:22, giving her the 3rd time overall on the Trailblazer's All-Time list in her 6k debut. Not far behind her was Cecily Anderton with a time of 23:26, an improvement on the last time she ran at Milliken's challenging course last year. Toeing the line next were sisters Avery and Riley Shope, who finished 5 seconds apart with times of 24:44 and 24:49, respectively. Rounding out the women's top five was Riley Nicholson with a time of 25:01.
 
On the men's side Cohen McDonald had a huge day, being the first Trailblazer to finish with an 8k time of 27:00. Not far behind was freshman Brennan Harp, who stepped up huge to finish with a time of 27:38, an 8k personal record. The next finisher was Ben Jaminet, who continues to improve in his switch from the track to the grass, who crossed the line with a time of 27:45. The next finisher was Matthew Heath, who clocked a time of 27:52. Rounding out the men's top five was Jaxon Beebe, who finished with a time of 28:17, a minute and a half faster than his time from the last meet.
 
From Coach Stober:
"Today was a bit of a mixed bag. We certainly had some good performances, but it was far from going as well as it could have gone. We knew going into today's race that we would find out where we stood against some other teams within our conference and region. Hopefully we can use today's results as motivation moving forward. 
 
On the men's side we were without two of our top five guys. We knew that was going to hurt us, but it also provided the opportunity for some guys to step up. I thought Cohen ran really well as our top guy today. He looked strong throughout the entire race and ended up with a PB. Brennan had a huge day and really stepped up for us. He went from being our seventh guy two weeks ago to finishing as our second guy today, running a PB in the process. I was really proud of how he ran. I'm hoping that today was a big confidence booster for him. Ben also stepped up big time for us and finished as our number three, also running a PB. He's been a surprise this season and continues to show that he's capable of being a consistent top five guy for our team. There was a bit of gap from our number three to our four and five, but Jaxon had a big improvement from two weeks ago cutting over a minute and a half off his time at Catawba. Nick had a really good day running a PB and almost scoring for us. I was really proud of his performance. Thad is slowly getting things together. He's been battling some health issues, but had a solid race today. Dom also finished with a PB today. I don't think we got an accurate idea as to where we stand within the conference and region having a couple of key guys out, but I'm hoping that we can have a full squad in two weeks at Louisville. But again, I'm proud of the guys that stepped up today.
 
On the women's side we had a really strong top two. In her first ever 6K, Ellie finished as our top girl and ran the third fastest time in program history. What a 6K debut for her. Cecily was right there with her the entire race and finished just a few seconds behind her as our number two. We had a bigger gap to our three through five than we would've liked to, but I know what each of those girls are capable of. This was Avery's second cross country race back after missing all of last season. The fact that she ran as our number three today in her first 6K back was impressive. Beka had a really good race and ended up equaling her PB for the 6K. Christiana ran really well and wasn't far off from her PB. Kaylee and Zoie both had good races despite battling injuries as of late. I was proud of their effort. Lydia handled her first 6K very well and had one of the stronger finishes on the team. As a team, the women ended up just behind Lenoir Rhyne (currently the 5th ranked team in our region) and just ahead of North Georgia (currently the 7th ranked team in our region). I would be surprised if we weren't ranked in the top ten for this week's regional rankings. 
 
There's still a lot of season left ahead of us. We've got to continue to train hard and do our best to stay healthy. We are looking forward to a fun trip to Louisville in a couple of weeks." 
 
Next, the Trailblazers are taking a roadtrip to Louisville, Kentucky for the Live In Lou Classic on October 5th.