WILMORE, Ky.--- Asbury women's cross country finished in first place in the Eagle Opener on Friday evening in Wilmore, Ky., led by junior Bailey Gassmann running the seventh best two-mile time in Asbury history for first place, 12:54. The AU men's team took second place behind Midway, led by senior captain Dan Kersey's second place 5K time of 17:21, the 10th best in school history.
AU won the women's race over Midway with a 16-45 margin. Midway took the men's race, 23-32 over Asbury. A total of 19 student-athletes competed in the women's race, while 22 ran in the men's competition.
Sophomore elementary education major Emma Groff took almost two minutes off the time she opened the season a year ago with her second-place finish, 13:23.
Freshmen AU teammates Emma Ke Duc and Michele Burgess completed the team sweep of the first four finishers in the race, recording the 16
th and 17
th fastest two-mile times in school history. Junior Lucy Kate Gibson rounded out the team scoring with her sixth-place finish with a slightly faster time than she opened with last year, 14:08.
Asbury men's cross country freshman Noah Smith launched his collegiate career with a sixth-place finish out of the 22 competitors. Close behind him in seventh was fellow freshman Jesse Gassmann. Team captain Jojo Ernst and newcomer Harris Yates finished in the next two positions to complete the team scoring.
Results
The next competition for AU will be on September 5 at 6 pm in Owensboro, Ky., at the Panther Prowl.
"I thought we ran well today. Bailey and Dan showed they are ready for a big year. The real treat, though, was seeing the freshmen compete for the first time. Five of our ten scorers today were freshmen. I thought they would be pretty good, but you never really know until the gun goes off for that first race of the season.The whole team has a lot of work to do, but this was a good start."
Randy Crist | Head Cross Country Coach
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