Seagull Opener Recap
CNU Opens strong at Salisbury
Saturday, August 30thby Brandon Miles
SALISBURY, MD -- The Christopher Newport Cross Country team showed lots of promise in the squad's first meet of the season at the Seagull Opener held at Winter Place Park. Both squads were the top finishing DIII squads in the invitational as the men finished fourth overall in the team standings with 124 points, while the women's team garnered a third place finish with 86 points.
The impact of this year's freshmen class was immediately felt on the men's side as freshmen Cary Chaffee was the first Captain to come across the finish with his 21st place finishing time of 27:58.74. Three other freshmen finished among CNU's top seven with Brandon Miles (28th, 28:19.86), Tim Scott (33rd, 28:38.21), and David Barham (39th, 28:59.35). CNU upperclassmen also having strong showings were junior David Baer (30th, 28:29.10), senior Sean Smith (31st, 28:30.76), and junior Nate Wallace (36th, 28:53.06). With the combined efforts of the newcomers and upperclassmen, CNU was able to finish ahead of defending Mason-Dixon Conference champion Salisbury, who finished fifth overall (144 points) in their home invitational.
The women's squad have a very surprisingly strong opening meet. The Lady Captains were led by Aimee Gibbs who ran away with the individual title with a new personal best time of 22:37.83. With a year of experience under their belt, sophomores Megan Fogarty (15th, 24:20.21), Emily Low (18th, 24:25.15), and Elizabeth Browning (22nd, 24:47.92) showed dramatic improvement in their first race of the season as all three second years posted personal best times. Freshmen Ashley Ezell rounded out a solid five for CNU in her collegiate debut with a 37th place finishing time of 25:50.49.