Patriot Runners Finish 18th and 20th at NCAA Regional Meet

MEMPHIS, TN – The Francis Marion University men’s and women’s cross country teams finished 18th and 20th respectively at the NCAA Division II South Regional Meet, this past weekend in Memphis, Tenn.

The event was hosted by Christian Brothers University and run at the Shelby Farms complex.

Harding University won the men’s team title by easily defeating second-place Kennesaw State University 17-56.  Francis Marion occupied 18th place with 471 points.

Senior Ryan Plexico, in his final race at FMU, led the Patriots with a 55th-place finish.  He toured the 10,000-meter course in 34:37.  Freshman teammate Dmitri Virnig placed 96th in 36:14, followed by junior Steven Creek in 97th place (36:21), junior Bobby Sears in 103rd (36:45), senior Ezekiel Koech in 124th (39:21), and freshman Ariel Ortiz in 126th (39:54).

Harding's men took the first four individual places for the nearly perfect 17 score, led by sophomore Peter Kosgei with a time of 29:52.  Harding, KSU, and Florida Southern College all qualified as teams for the NCAA Division II national meet to be run Nov. 20 in Evansville, Ind.

The University of Tampa captured the women’s team championship by edging Harding 64-72.  FMU placed 20th in the 31-team field with a 505 score.

Francis Marion was led by freshman Codi Knoch, who placed 69th in a time of 25:15.  Patriot sophomore Megan Coy was 96th (26:02), followed by junior Nicole Hoeppner in 110th (26:45), sophomore Erica Woo in 111th (26:52), and freshman Katie Grotzinger in 133rd (28:13).

Harding's Hellen Singoei took the women's individual title, as she completed the 6,000-meter course in 20:56.  Tampa, Harding, KSU, and the University of North Florida all qualifying as teams for the national meet.