Mercer Cross Country Finishes Conference Season

Saturday, November 2

Johnson City, Tenn.

Mercer University

SoCon Championships

Results (PDF)

Mercer Cross Country Finishes Conference Season

11/2/2019 5:51:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

By: Jesika Moore

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. –The Mercer cross-country teams finished seventh and ninth at the Southern Conference Championships Saturday morning in Johnson City, Tenn.

Mercer's men placed 7^th of 10 team's at the SoCon Championship 8k race, held at Pine Oaks Golf Course. The men finished with a total time of 2:18:29, outrunning Western Carolina, Wofford, and The Citadel. The women placed 9^th of 10 teams, outrunning The Citadel. They finished with a total time of 1:42:04.

Ashley McMahon continued to excel this season finishing 18th, the highest individual finisher for Mercer since 2014. She missed being all-conference by 15 seconds and moved up 30 spots from last year. The women's team battled hard, but narrowly missed beating VMI for eighth.

Head cross country coach Josh Hayman said, "Ashley put together a great race today. She smoothly moved up throughout the race and hung tough as everything played out. She made a huge jump from last year and has done a great job leading the women's team all season. Madison also had her best race of the season by stepping up to be our second runner today."

For the men, Coach Hayman said, "I'm proud of how they ran. They put themselves in a position to be in the top 5 as a team through the halfway mark, but some of the guys faded slightly as we got through the final lap. Sean had an excellent race today and the majority of the guys improved upon their performance from last year, but we are always hungry for more."

Junior Sean Parker led the program for the second time all season and finished 22nd overall to move up eight spots from last year. He was followed closely behind by Vladi Zander-Velloso, who moved up ten spots from last year. Josiah Jaqua also moved up one spot from last year.

Women's 5K Individual Results
16. Ashley McMahon, 19:09
43. Madison Cowart, 20:11
49. Jerrica Hanson, 20:26
56. Giulia Giorgi, 20:59
60. Ania Grzeszczak, 21:17
62. Whitney Johnson, 21:30
63. Marina Van Sickle, 21:56

Men's 8K Individual Results
22. Sean Parker, 26:49
30. Vladi Zander-Velloso, 27:16
39. Josiah Jaqua, 27:48
45. Robert Zell, 28:15
46. Preston Jones, 28:16
49. Diego Lavieri Sosa, 28:24
55. Marc Reiser, 28:49
Fuad Batteh, 29:45

Up Next
Both the Mercer men and women will head to Tallahassee, Fla. for the NCAA Regional Championships on November 15.