Results

SALISBURY, N.C. (Sept. 2) – The Trojans placed a trio of runners among the top-20 overall on Saturday morning and finished second in the team standings at the season-opening Catawba Fleet Feet Invite.

The University of Mount Olive men's cross country team totaled 69 points after featuring two of the top-15 individual finishers. The host Catawba captured the team title by tallying 15 points at the seven-team event, while North Greenville finished third overall with 86 points.

Junior Aman Tsegay led the Trojans and crossed the line with a time of 27 minutes, 25.1 seconds to place 11th in a field of 63 competitors. He paced the program in all five events in 2022 and posted a 33rd-place finish at the Conference Carolinas Championship.

Fellow junior Riley Willcox posted a time of 27:47.8 over the eight-kilometer race at the Salisbury Community Park to finish 13th overall. In his first appearance with the program, freshman Evan Hall placed 18th for Mount Olive after recording a time of 28:09.8 on Saturday.

After missing all of 2022 due to injury, junior Ashton Olmstead made his return and crossed the line in 28:35.7 to take 25th place and four positions behind junior Richard Villafranco finished 29th overall with a time of 28:48.7 to round out the team scorers.

Sophomore Josh Hendren posted a time of 29:07.3 in the season-opening race to place 35th and teammate Matthew Riggs crossed the line with a 41st-place finish after registering a time of 29:36.1. Additionally, senior Nathanael Bierly recorded a time of 29:44.5 to finish in 43rd place, while freshman Devon Coughlin placed 56th overall with a time of 33:10.3.

Catawba sophomore Tanner Smith won the race by just over a second with a time of 26:28.4 to claim the individual title.
 
The Trojans return to action at the Wilmington Beach Blast on Friday, Sept. 8, at Olsen Park.