FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 6, 2011

Contact:  Robert Preston, Jr.,
              912.260.4276
              robert.preston@sgc.edu

SGC Cross Country Takes Second, Third at Skiles Farm Meet

Another cross country meet, more hardware. The South Georgia College cross country team brought home the second place (men) and third place (women) trophies from the Skiles Farm Invitational cross country meet near Albany last weekend in what will be the last race against conference competition until the finals on Oct. 29.

The Skiles Farm course is a good test of mid-season fitness for runners and helps identify weaknesses heading into the final weeks of the season. The women’s race was very competitive, with five teams toeing the line for the start of the race. The Lady Tigers finished well, with three girls finishing in the top 15 and one more, Oksana Hutchins, finishing in 16th place, less than a minute out of 15th. The girls ran against a field that included Georgia Southwestern State University; SGC fared very well against the four-year school, coming in just four points out of second place. The girls also posted the fastest average time in the history of SGC’s program.

Leading the way again for the Lady Tigers was Minerva Arreguin with a 22:27, good for sixth overall. Freshman Tia Ponsell continues to recover from her appendectomy, and ran a 22:56. Jennifer Cumbus followed with a 23:05. Hutchins, Sarah Snipes and Elizabeth Wilder rounded out SGC’s line-up. Ponsell, Hutchins, Wilder and Snipes all ran personal bests for the season at the meet.

The men’s race had a smaller field, but the Tigers didn’t let the lack of numbers keep them from running a solid race. Once more, Mark McLeod finished first among the Tigers with a 30:22 – not his best this season but still good for a sixth place finish, the second-best finish for an SGC male in a cross country meet. Daniel Chavez, Lyndon Jones and Josh Holcombe followed, with Juan Gibbs, Jevonta Latimer and John Adams finishing up for the Tigers. The men turned in an average time of 30:44, the fastest so far this season for them.

“We are getting faster, which obviously makes me very happy. Our goal at the beginning of the season was to peak on Oct. 29 for the conference finals. So far, we are on track to make that happen. I am concerned, though, that we haven’t had a male break 30 minutes or a female break 22 minutes. Those are the benchmarks we’re training for, and we’ve got to work very hard over these last three weeks to reach those milestones,” says SGC cross country coach Robert Preston Jr.

The cross country team is in action again this weekend at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ASICS Classic. The team will take two weeks off from racing before running the conference finals at the end of the month. “We’ve got two solid weeks of training left to make the progress needed to finish in the top two. Our kids are working hard every day at practice, and I’m confident their hard work is going to pay huge dividends in three weeks,” says Coach Preston.

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About South Georgia College

South Georgia College (www.sgc.edu) was founded in 1906 and is located in Douglas, Ga. The college's environment gives students exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty. With over 20 majors and transfer opportunities, South Georgia College provides the finest education possible to the citizens of its service area.