Men finish eighth in cross country nationals

Brodee Gillam

Sports Editor

The men's cross country team outran its No. 11 poll ranking as the team came out of El Dorado, Kansas with an eighth-place finish in the NJCAA national finals and a Great Lakes Region win.

The men harriers ran an 8K race at the Prairie Trails Golf Course on Nov. 12. The Stars finished with a score of 340, only 19 points behind seventh-place finisher Paradise Valley's 321.

Freshman Shawn Bell was the Stars' first harrier to complete the 8K, finishing 43rd overall with a time of 26:36.

LCC Head Coach Jim Robinson said Bell was expected to do as well as he did.

"Shawn has been a top guy most of the year," Robinson said. "(He) really has been coming on towards the end of year … He and (sophomore) Carson (Alexander) again were the two on the front line."

Alexander was the second Star, finishing 67th overall with a time of 27:08.

Alexander said teammate freshman Phil Batterson, who finished 70th at 27:11, closed in on him late in the race and it helped both of them.

"(Batterson) actually came up behind me, and him being there with me gave me the effort to (continue)," Alexander said. "We actually caught a couple of guys that had beaten us at our region."

The rest of the LCC top five was completed with freshman Deion Feldpausch and sophomore Dylan Rocha finishing at 79th in 27:16 and 81st in 27:18, respectively.

Robinson said the team had one specific goal all season.

"The guys were very focused all year," Robinson said. "The focus was on doing well at nationals."

Bell said he was very proud of his team's season.

"I'm super happy with the team; very impressed (that) the top five the first three meets was not the same people," Bell said. "It was really great knowing we had that depth and that kind of skill on the team. That really helped us carry through to get the eighth place."