MARS HILL, N.C.—The Mars Hill women’s cross country will compete in the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championship this Saturday.
The Lions finished in fifth place at last year’s championship meet. Mars Hill has taken home one team championship this season. Lion runners have improved the team’s average team by over thirty seconds over the course of the season. The SAC Championship race will be held Saturday at 10:15 a.m. in Greeneville, Tenn. The championship course starting and finish lines are located on the southeast corner of the Tusculum campus at the upper practice soccer field.
Mars Hill won the Hyder-McMahill Invitational in Montreat to capture its lone team championship. The Lions also placed second at the Lenoir-Rhyne Invitational, where they were narrowly edged by conference foe Lenoir-Rhyne. Mars Hill’s best average time came at the Royals Pre-Region Cross Country Challenge, where the Lions ran an average time of 20:21.82.
Faith Trammell earned South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Week honors after winning the Hyder-McMahill Invitational. Trammell has improved her time by thirty seconds this season and ran a personal-best 19:01.5 at the Royals Pre-Region Cross Country Challenge.
Improvement has been the theme over the course of the season for Mars Hill. Most recently, the Lions improved their team average by twenty seconds between their last two races.
“Our ladies have come so far this season both individually and as a team,” said head coach Mike Owens. “We have seen numerous personal-best times along the way and our average team time has continued to drop throughout the season. The competition this weekend will be outstanding with as many as six teams having a realistic shot at the team championship. We will have to be at our very best to remain in that mix.”
Seven different Mars Hill runners have finished among the Lions’ top five in races this season. Senior Danielle Metz will run her final conference race as a Lion in Saturday’s championship.
Anderson is the two-time reigning SAC champion. Wingate is ranked fifth and Lenoir-Rhyne sixth in the latest USTFCCCA Southeast Region rankings. The Bulldogs and Bears have each won two team championships this season.
Brevard and Catawba have also won team championships this season.
Student-athletes from all 10 SAC-member institutions will compete in the race.