Saturday, October 22, 2005

WOMEN TAKE SEVENTH AND MEN FIFTH AT 2005 PBC CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Irina Watkins Wins Women's Individual Title

Lumberton, N.C. – The North Georgia College & State University women were seventh out of nine teams and the men took fifth out of six teams at the 2005 Peach Belt Conference Championship. Senior Irina Watkins won NGCSU's first Peach Belt Conference title with a first place finish in the women's race.

The Columbus State Lady Cougars took top honors at the Peach Belt cross country championship, while Clayton State took the men's title Saturday morning at Luther Britt Park. The championship is the first for both the Columbus State women and the Clayton State men.

North Georgia's Watkins posted a 5k time of 17:53 to win the women's individual championship. Watkins is only the second woman to ever win two PBC titles and the only one to win in non-consecutive years. She took the 2002 title as a member of the Kennesaw State squad.

Following Watkins in 26th place was sophomore Kayce Christianson in a time of 21:49. Senior Anna Roller finished 32nd (22:16) with freshman Christina Scott crossing the line next for North Georgia in 38th (22:40) place. Freshman Loren Blake rounded out the top five with a 42nd place finish (23:16) followed by senior Julia McAllister in 44th (23:43).

In the women's team event, host UNC Pembroke placed second, their highest PBC finish ever. Clayton State finished third with 86 points, narrowly edging out Lander who was fourth with 89. USC Aiken rounded out the top five with 123 points.

Following Watkins in second was Janet Chepkonga from Columbus State with a time of 18:07 with Clayton State's Allison Kreutzer in third. Maria Zamora of Columbus State placed fourth with Annie Kim of Augusta State edging out Ivana Petrovic of Lander by less than a second for fifth.

The top 13 women's runners were named PBC All-Conference, which included Jenafer Forward (Augusta State), Katerina Matousova (UNCP), Heather Krehbiel (Clayton State), Kelly May (Francis Marion), Andrea Lewallen (Columbus State), Adriana Yanez (UNCP) and Tierra McIntosh (UNCP). Forward was also named the PBC Freshman of the Year as the top finishing freshman at the meet.

In the men's race, sophomore Josh Knapp lead the Saints for a third consecutive race and posted his best time of the season, 27:52, for a 15th place finish. Following Knapp was junior Bryan Harris in 19th (28:26) and junior Robert Murray in 24th (29:08). Sophomore David Beall finished in 29th (29:35) and freshman Josh Kerzie finished right behind Beall in 30th (29:52). Junior Matt Bollinger finished 33rd (30:33) followed by freshman Dustin LaBarge in 37th (31:09), senior Matt Temples in 38th (31:22), and junior Jason Geiger in 41st (33:25).

Clayton State's Bobby Valadez took the men's crown. Valadez overtook Columbus State's Moses Kosgei in the final mile to finish with an impressive time of 24:59 on the 8k course. UNC Pembroke finished second in the men's team standings with 49 points, their highest conference finish ever. Columbus State was third, just one point behind UNCP, while GC&SU was fourth and North Georgia fifth.

Valadez and Kosgei were named PBC All-Conference along with the other top eight runners in the meet. They were Manuel Aguilar (Clayton St.), Adam Pugh (Columbus), Jose Garduno (Clayton), Josh Myers (Clayton), Stanley Maritim (UNCP) and Giovanni Bilotta (UNCP). Maritim received men's freshman of the year honors.

Clayton State head coach Mike Mead was named the men's Coach of the Year. It is the second such award for Mead, who won in 1996. He has also won twice for coaching the Laker women's team. UNC Pembroke's Larry Rodgers was named the women's Coach of the Year, it is the first time he has been so honored.

Men's Results

Women's Results

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