NASHVILLE, Tenn. (October 26, 2023) – The first Atlantic Sun Conference Championships of the 2023-24 season will be decided on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, as the University of North Alabama will participate alongside 11 other programs in the cross country conference meet.
The women's 5K race starts at 9:15 a.m., while the men's 8K race follows at 10 a.m. The meet will be hosted by Lipscomb University.
"I'm excited for my first ASUN Cross Country Championship with this team," said UNA first year head coach Evans Kiptoo. "We have been preparing well and training harder for it. The last three weekends, we haven't been competing. We wanted to have more training time, and from my observation, I have seen improvement with our training. I believe they will do well come Saturday."
UNA seeks its first ASUN Cross Country Championship on both sides. The women's program owns claim to a pair of conference championships from the Gulf South Conference, winning in 1987 and 1988. The men had a second-place finish in 1985 but seek their first title overall.
Over the first five seasons of ASUN competition, the men's highest finish was fourth place in 2020. Meanwhile, the women will look to surpass a Division I era best fifth-place finish in 2019.
Entering the race, the Lions are led by
Brandon Lee on the men's side with UNA's fastest time of the season at 25:02.1 set at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville. Leading the women's side is
Gracie Mathews, who owns one win this season and later set a personal record with a time of 18:06.00 at the Southern Showcase.
Joining Lee on the men's side for Saturday's race will be
Jackson Hamlin,
Connor Jackson,
Fedrick Kipyego,
Brent Lyons,
Adam Nipper,
Mason Schrader,
Noah Bonsall,
Grayson Hall and
Edan Jamieson.
In the women's race, Mathews will be joined by
Ashlyn Anderson,
Sage Betts,
Emily Daniel,
Valerie Grosso,
Janeth Jepkirui,
Laura Mobley,
Savannah Williams,
Emma Bradford and
Camille Etheridge.
The Lions will be in purple jerseys and black bottoms on Saturday. The field also includes Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Central Arkansas, EKU, FGCU, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, North Florida, Queens and Stetson. EKU is the defending men's champion, while Lipscomb is the defending women's champion.
Live results can be found
at this link.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
