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Athletic News
10/23/2009 -
Trojans Finish 10th At 2009 Conference Carolinas Women's Cross Country Championships
Mount Olive women’s cross country runner Melissa Moore was disappointed when she was informed that she missed her personal best by one second. Disappointment turned into elation when the official time knocked four seconds off.
Moore finished 31st out of 91 runners and Mount Olive placed 10th out of 12 teams at the 2009 Conference Carolinas Women’s Cross Country Championship Friday at Charlotte, N.C. The Trojans finished ahead of St. Andrews and Barton.
When Moore crossed the finish line, the timer showed 21:25, one second off of Moore’s personal best of 21:24 set last year. But the official results credited Moore with a time of 21:21 on the 5k course.
“I was kind of mad when I thought I didn’t get it,” said Moore, referring to a personal best. “I was happy when I saw the official results.”
The personal best takes on added significance, considering that this is Moore’s final year of competing. A junior from Willard, N.C., Moore still has a year remaining academically, but has completed her athletics eligibility.
“It feels good to go out on a personal best,” said Moore, who will compete in track and field in the spirng.
Nikolette Lucas finished 44th and recorded a season-best time of 22:24. Mount Olive competed on the same course earlier this month in the UNC-Charlotte Invitational and Lucas says that helped her improve her time Friday.
“This time around, I knew where the hills were, so I knew when to conserve and when to go all out,” said Lucas, a sophomore from Rocky Mount, N.C. “I feel good about my time. I just wanted to keep Melissa in my sight.”
Caitlyn Pye (23:36) finished 63rd, Rocio Alvarado (24:42) was 75th and Angela Bailey (27:02) placed 77th, three seconds ahead of Tiondra Miller (27:05) in 78th. Ashley Sawyer (25:43) was 84th.
Host Queens won the team title, while Anderson sophomore Whitney Bishoff captured the individual championship for the second year in a row.
While Mount Olive had the same finish as last year’s conference championship, both Moore and Lucas feel the Trojan women’s cross country program is going in the right direction. This season marked the first time since 2002 Mount Olive had enough runners to be eligible for the team standings in every regular season event, as well as the conference championship.
“I feel like we’ve been able to build a foundation for the program,” said Moore. “I know the program is going to get stronger each year.”
“Having more girls on the team has helped a lot,” said Lucas. “We’ve been able to push each other, as well as be there for each other.”