CANTON. Ga. – Men's and women's cross country competed at the Appalachian Athletic Conference XC Championships at Boling Park on a brisk Saturday morning in Canton, Ga. The men captured the 2018 AAC XC Championship title with a first place finish, edging out Milligan by eight points, giving them the automatic bid to nationals. The women's team finished fourth overall with an individual nationals qualifier in Lydia Wilson. Head coach Jason Lewkowicz was named AAC Men's XC Coach of the Year.

Montreat's men had a goal of finishing three runners in the top 10, which they accomplished. Nathan Richards was the top finisher for the Cavs, fourth overall, with a time of 25:43. Benjamin Schmidt finished seventh overall at 26:10, as Antonio Gomez rounded out the top 10 with a time of 26:17. The Cavs placed four more in the top 20 with Jacob Parker (26:32) in 14th, Caleb Silver in 15th (26:34), Rylan Hincher in 19th (26:50), and Daniel O'Dell in 20th place (27:00).

As the top freshman finisher, Richards earned Freshman of the Year honors with Gomez and O'Dell joining him on the All-Freshmen team. The top seven finishers earn a spot on the All-Conference First Team with the next seven landing on the second team. Richards and Schmidt made first team, and Gomez and Parker earned second team honors.

On the women's side, Lydia Wilson's third place overall finish of 18:06 sends her to nationals as an individual. Skyler Tait set a personal best and missed nationals by .2 seconds with her 19:26 20th place overall finish. Erica Morin also set a personal best.

Wilson earned All-Conference First Team honors while Tait made the All-Freshmen team.

Up Next: Wilson and the men's team will compete at the NAIA XC Championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Nov. 16.