CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Men's and women's cross country recently competed at the Queens Royals Challenge in Charlotte where the men came in 19th out of 43 teams and the women finished 28th of 45 teams. Montreat's top seven men all broke the 27 minute mark in their 8k, and three women set personal bests in their 5k.

On the women's side, sophomore Lydia Wilson once again crushed her previous personal best 5k time, finishing 14th of 413 runners with a time of 17:45. Her time set the new school record for Montreat College. Freshmen Skyler Tait and Rosie Marshall also set personal best 5k times as Tait came in at 19:43 and Marshall finished at 21:32. Junior Madeline Sides and freshman Alma Rodriguez rounded out the women's squad for the day.

"I was very pleased with how the women's team came out and competed in this race," said head coach Jason Lewkowicz. "Lydia had a fantastic race and benefitted from a strong front pack. She stuck her nose in there and came out with a new school record time. Skyler Tait and Rosie Marshall both had the best races of the season to date and you can see them gaining confidence each time out. It was also great to have Madeline Sides back after she's had to endure so many setbacks. To come out after only a few weeks of training and compete like that was inspirational."

Freshman Nathan Richards was the top finisher for the men with an 8k time of 25:29. Six other runners finished within the 27 minute mark: Antonio Gomez (25:36), Rylan Hincher (26:11), Caleb Silver (26:20), Benjamin Schmidt (26:34), Jacob Parker (26:43), and Daniel O'Dell (26:52).

"It was a bit of a frustrating day for the guys, at least that is that they would say," said Coach Lewkowicz. "I thought they competed well, but we didn't get out at the beginning like we needed to so most of the lead pack spent a majority of the race trying to work their way through traffic. That prevented us from getting into a rhythm and packing up like we had planned. That said, this is the strongest we have looked all season and you can see things starting to click. We are all excited to get a chance to compete again this upcoming weekend at Sandshark."

Up Next: Both squads are set to compete at the USC-Beaufort Sandshark Invitational in Hardeeville, SC Saturday morning, Oct. 20.