Wildcats Journey to South Carolina for Weekend Race

BEAUFORT, S.C. – Bethune-Cookman Cross Country travels to Hardeeville, South Carolina this weekend for the 18th Annual Sand Shark Invitational hosted by USC Beaufort on Saturday, Oct. 11, starting at 8:30 a.m. The race will happen at Sgt. Jasper Park.
 
The occasion serves as the ultimate race earlier than the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Championships happening October 27, in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
Sand Shark Invitational Preview
 
Saturday, October 11
 
Men’s 8K | 8:30 a.m. | Course Map
 
Women’s 5K | 9:30 a.m. | Course Map
 
Last Time Out
 
For the second time in three occasions, Andrew Kiplagat set a brand new personal- and college file for Bethune-Cookman Men’s Cross Country as he completed second general on the Florida State University Cross Country Invitational at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
Andrew Kiplagat, a junior from Chebara, Kenya, turned in a second place general time Friday morning as he crossed in a brand new school-record style of 24:07.7 – shattering the earlier faculty file held by Kiplagat from the season-opening UNF Invitational final month by greater than 30 seconds. Finishing thirty third general within the subject of 317 runners was Bethune-Cookman senior Victor Kibet, the 2024 SWAC Men’s Cross Country Individual Champion. Kibet, a local of Eldoret, Kenya, crossed in a time of 25:39.2 – his second-fastest mark of the marketing campaign.
 
Majet Bethely, a sophomore from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida was the third-fastest Wildcat on the boys’s aspect with a time of 28:10.4. Teammate Gerrard Griffin adopted in a time of 28:18.8, whereas Andre Sewell, a freshman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recorded a ending mark of 29:38.1 on the day. Meanwhile, Dashon Gill (30:03.2) and Dashawn Buist (31:20.0) rounded out the scoring instances for the Wildcats within the first of two races at Apalachee Regional Park this season.
 
As a staff, the boys completed twenty first general with 517 factors, whereas Georgia (21) ran away with the staff trophy. North Florida (91) and host Florida State (113) adopted to conclude the highest three groups.
 
In the ladies’s occasion, head coach Garon Jackson noticed senior Valencia Butler lead the pack as soon as once more with a time of 25:32.4 for the Augusta, Georgia product. She was virtually one minute sooner than her teammate Riana Walford who completed with a mark of 26:57 on the morning. Bethune-Cookman’s Shelvany Goin, one in every of three freshmen for the Wildcats on the ladies’s roster, was third-fastest for the Maroon and Gold with a mark of 28:49.3, matching that of Seminole State’s Madeleine Coffee. Classmate Sada Franco was fourth in staff scoring as she managed a mark of 29:43.6 in her first occasion of the season.
 
It was Jamariya Robinson handing over a time of 31:41 to spherical out the ladies’s aspect for the Cats in a jam-packed subject of 351 collegiate runners. The Bethune-Cookman girls took thirty third as a staff. The SEC accomplished a males’s and ladies’s staff sweep with LSU staking first place with 30 factors, adopted by Florida State (51) and Georgia (87) to complete the highest three groups.
 
The Field on the Sand Shark Invitational
 
Aside from the host USCB Sand Sharks and Bethune-Cookman, the sphere at this yr’s Sand Shark Invitational will embody groups from throughout the southeast, together with Claflin, SAC Savannah, South Carolina State, Voorhees, Savannah State, Southeastern (Fla.) and Winthrop.
 
The Course
 
The course begins and finishes on the Hardeeville School Complex whereas traversing via Sergeant Jasper Park and the Cooler Property. The course, which performed host to the 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2016 Sun Conference Championships, is flat and on grass and trails apart from highway crossings.
 
Last Time on the USC Beaufort Open Meet (2018)
 
Daniel Kiptoo and Carlin Berryhill led Bethune-Cookman’s 1-2 end on the Sand Shark Invitational Saturday morning.

Along with Xavier Walton’s eighth place end, the Wildcat males’s effort marked the third consecutive meet they’ve had three runners place within the high ten with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships every week away.

Kiptoo, a senior, coated the 8K in 25:03.9 for his third profession victory. Berryhill adopted in 25:11.9 whereas Walton clocked a 25:36.8.

Bethune-Cookman completed tenth within the 33-team subject. Embry-Riddle, which additionally had three finishers within the high ten, beat Florida Southern for the staff title.

 

In the ladies’s 5K race, Bethune-Cookman was twelfth out of 34 groups.

 

Deja Davis paced the Lady Wildcats with a fifteenth place end in 18:55.7, whereas Brittany Gill was 72nd in 20:13.02.

 

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