Nov. 14, 2009

Courtesy of Guilford

Greensboro, N.C. (11/14/09) -- Rhodes College women's and Emory University men's squads dominated the 2009 NCAA South/Southeast Regional Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. Although both team places four runners in the top-ten spots to secures the overall team championships, neither team had the individual champion for the day. Trinity's (Texas) Caitlin Masse (22:56) ran away with the women's individual title besting her closest competitor by 39 seconds, while Lynchburg's Ricky Flynn (26:10) earned the individual men's title finishing 16 seconds ahead of the next runner.

The Rhodes women's squad finished with 35 points. Emory placed second with 100 points, followed by Christopher Newport (135), Lynchburg (155) and Washington and Lee (169) rounding out the top five. Rhodes' Cybil Covic (23:35) finished second to lead the Lynx followed by Taylor Stephens (23:53, 3rd), Melissa Defabrizio (24:01, 4th), Kelsey Dudziak (24:04, 8th) and Anna Johnson (24:41, 18th).

Other noteworthy women's times include Lynchburg's Jennie Pernisi (24:03, 5th), McMurry's Carla Lewis (24:04, 6th), Mississippi College's Jennifer Cooper (24:04, 7th), and Emory's Tess Gallegos (24:04) and Natalie Fenn (24:08) finishing 9th and 10th respectively.

On the men's side, Emory placed first with 33 points. Lynchburg finished second with 102 points, followed by Trintiy (Texas) (110), Mary Washington (136) and Virginia Wesleyan (164). Charlie Meade (26:38, 3rd) led a quintet of Eagle runners who scored five of the top-13 times. Meade was joined by teammates Tommy Fyffe (27:06, 4th), Alex Robin (27:20, 6th), Greg Decker (27:24, 8th) and Paul Winterhalter (27:37, 13th).

Other notable individual finishers include Mary Washington's Frank Devar (26:26, 2nd), Centre's Jason Parks (27:12, 5th), Trinity's (Texas) Bryant Wright (27:21, 7th), Eastern Mennonite's Richy Bikko (27:29.55, 9th),and Mary Washington's Brian Fulton (27:27, 10th).