PETERSBURG, VA. – The Chowan Men's and Women's Cross Country team soared in the Virginia State Fall Invitational on Friday afternoon. The Hawks placed second and seventh respectively.

Coach Heckler states "It was a fabulous effort by everyone, im proud to see so many personal best this early in the season. Their hard work has really paid off while competing against some of the elite athletes in the conference"

THE BASICS
FINAL | Men- Second Place, Women Seventh Place

LOCATION | Petersburg, Va. (VSU Campus)

ON THE COURSE
For the Men:
With a team score of 65, the Hawks secured second place out of the seven CIAA teams competing. Chowan will work on a strategy to keep this momentum for the Conference Championships in late October. The host Virginia State University men took home the win while Virginia Union University men came in third.

Freshman, Jyrec McCray prevailed for the Hawks breaking the school record since 2012 with a 28:29 overall time and fifth place finish. Throughout the course McCray averaged a 5:43 minute mile and shaved just under two minutes off his season opener.

Teammate Jalen Thomas finished closely behind McCray with a sixth place finish and 29:052 course time. Thomas ran 2:49 minutes faster averaging a 5:51 minute mile.

Kevin Taylor also competed for Chowan finishing in 24th place for the Blue and White with a career best of 30:04.5

Ghassan Alansi and George Kattan took 34th and 35th place respectively for the Hawks.  Alansi posted a 31:13.1 overall time while Kattan finished in 31:22.2.

For the Women:
Chowan's Freshman Lela Knight led the way for the Blue and White crossing the finish line in the top ten with a time of 21:37:16. Knight averaged a 6:57 minute mile and shaved off 1:07 from her season opener.

Elizabeth Stokes completed the race two minutes faster than the week prior with a 23:47:36 time securing a 19th place finish for the Hawks.

Raven Finley-Flowers also improved her season opener time by a minute and ran the course in 27:44 while Chasity Henderson took 49th overall with a 30:05 personal best.

Kiona Purvis also competed for the Hawks finishing in 55th overall.

UP NEXT
The Hawks will compete in the Methodist University Monarch Classic when they travel to Fayetteville, N.C. on Saturday, September 23rd.