Piedmont College’s men and women’s cross country teams traveled to Grady, Alabama this past weekend to compete in the West Division Championships. While this season has been limited due to COVID-19 cancellations, both cross country teams were able to compete in a handful of events before this weekend. Going into the weekend, the women’s team was voted second place in the Coaches Pre-Conference Meet Poll.  

Both teams put together excellent runs that would earn them second place finishes.

Junior Val Angel would end the meet with a first place individual finish and a spot on the USA South West Division All-Conference First Team.  She finished first overall in the women’s 6k event, beating the next best time by over 15 seconds.  This is quite the improvement from the past two seasons in which Angel made the All-Conference Second Team.

Sophomore Addie Bolton would end with a third place finish, and sophomore Josey George would end with a seventh place finish.  Both women would join Val Angel on the USA South West Division All-Conference First Team.  

For the men, senior Alvin Jacobs would finish in second place in the 8k event.  Following closely behind him would be junior Connor Moranos in fifth place, sophomore Connor Creedon in sixth place, and junior Darius Smith in seventh place.  All four of these runners would be nominated to the men’s USA South West Division All-Conference First Team.  

While a shortened season isn’t ideal, a second place finish in the Division Championships is most definitely a positive outcome.  Given that many of the top finishers from both teams aren’t seniors, it will be very exciting to see what next season has in store for the Lions.