CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After two years of waiting patiently, the Queens University of Charlotte men's and women's cross country teams finally hit the ground running in the Queens City Invite on Friday evening. The race took place at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte and featured 35 schools, including the nationally ranked Royals. The men came into the recent USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll ranked seventh while the women were tabbed No. 12.
Both squads lived up to the recognition considering it was the first race of the season. The women opened the evening with a dominant performance finishing third behind Milligan and Anderson (S.C.). The Royals finished with a score of 92 after a remarkable finish.
Fatima Alanis used a late surge to propel into first place ahead of Lemi Wutz from Milligan with a final time of 17:07.08. Fellow teammate Cherise Carreira had a fantastic evening placing third overall with a time of 17:19.73.
Stevie Lawrence (17:59.77), Anne Janke (18:37.36), and
Madison Webster (18:49.44) rounded out the top five for the Royals.
Following the women's race, the men opened the season with a great run placing second behind Milligan.
Jan Lukas Becker and
Eric Keogh paired up and went stride for stride during the race. Becker finished second overall with a final time of 24:09.61 while Keogh was right on his heels at 24:12.41.
Erick Sanchez (25:04.33),
Remi Liberse (25:10.55), and
Adam Wright (25:16.04) ran together and the trio finished with the pack within a second of each other.
Queens head men's and women's cross country coach
Tom Scott was pleased with the performance of both squads. "It was exciting to be back on the cross country course" stated Scott. "We have an amazing group of people in this team and I'm very excited for the rest of the season."
The Royals will head to the University of Louisville next weekend for the Louisville Classic. Coach Scott emphasized, "This race hopefully pushed out a lot of the pre race nerves and jitters, and should put us in a good position for Louisville next weekend when we get after it with some of the best D1 and D2 teams in the country." Be sure to follow the Royals on Instagram at queens_cross_ for the latest updates and news surrounding Queens cross country.
