Salisbury, N.C. - North Greenville Cross Country turned in a pair of solid performances in their opening races of 2024, a weekend that was marked by a second place finish for the women and a fourth place finish for the NGU men. 

The Trailblazer women opened their cross-country season with a bang in Salisbury. Toeing the line first was junior Riley Nicholson, who crushed the 5k course in 20:10. Nicholson posted a top ten finish and took nearly 40 seconds off her previous time on that course. Next was freshman standout Ellie Timmons with a time of 20:16. Closely following her was sophomore Riley Shope, who finished in 20:18, which was 10 seconds better than her previous time on the course. Kicking to the finish next was junior Avery Shope with a time of 20:50, making a statement in her first XC race in two years. Rounding out the top five was sophomore Addison Martin, making her North Greenville debut with a time of 20:57. Though there were many great races and times today, the spotlight for today falls on freshman Brelyn Birch, who ran a personal best in her collegiate debut. The women's team finished second overall. 
            
The men executed their races perfectly at the Fleet Feet Invitational this year. Crossing the line first was sophomore Thomas Schilling, who clocked in a time of 27:39 for the 8k with a 21^st place finish. Crossing the line next was fellow sophomore Cohen McDonald, who finished with a time of 27:48. Not far behind was freshman Caleb McDowell, who opened his collegiate career with a with a time of 27:58. In his last first race, senior Matthew Heath finished with a time of 28:28. Finally, rounding out the scoring members of the men's team was sophomore Ben Jaminet with a time of 28:29. Jaminet, who is a phenom on the track and a three-time Conference Carolinas medalist, decided to trade the track for the turf this year in his collegiate cross country debut. The men were fourth overall in the team standings. 

From Coach Stober: 
"I thought this was a good season opener for us. For the first race of the season we typically have a prescribed pace for the first part of the race to prevent the team from going out too fast. Both the men and women executed that race plan well.

Our men's team average was 23 seconds faster than last year. Six out of the eight guys that ran this race last year ran faster today than they did a year ago. I feel like most of our guys did a good job moving up the last three miles of the race. Thomas ran a really strong last couple of miles to finish as our top guy. Cohen put together one of the best races of his college career. He put in a lot of miles over the summer, so he's strong right now. Caleb ran well for his first 8K despite battling a couple of nagging injuries. Matthew closed really well over the last couple of hundred meters moving up from our sixth guy to our fourth guy. I was really proud of Ben. He's more of an 800 guy on the track, but he's in good shape right now and for him to run top five for us in his first ever 8K is quite impressive. Chas ran well for us…just a couple of seconds out of scoring position. Brennan had a solid collegiate opener. Dom ran well in his first college 8K. Though we aren't satisfied with our team finish, there's a lot of good takeaways from today and I know the guys will be hungry to compete again in a couple of weeks.

Our women's team average was 52 seconds faster than last year. Five out of the six women that ran this race last season ran faster today than last year. Riley Nicholson had a great opener running as our top girl and finishing top 10 overall. Ellie Timmons had a solid college debut running as our number two. Riley Shope finished as our number three just a couple of seconds behind Ellie. Avery missed all of last season due to an injury and I thought she had a great first race back. Addison ran a HUGE last mile ultimately finishing as our fifth girl and scoring for us. She probably had the best final mile of anyone today. Beka also missed a lot of last season due to injury. But she had also had a great first race back. Today was Julia's first cross country race in two years. She's been patiently waiting for the opportunity to compete for us at NGU, and I thought she ran well today. This was Michaela's first ever cross country race and she handled it very well. Christiana and Kaylee both had good season openers. Brelyn and Lydia both ran well in their first ever college race. In fact, Brelyn ran a lifetime PB today. As a team we finished second overall behind a very strong Catawba team. I'm excited to see what this season holds for these women.
I'm proud of both teams, their execution, and their effort. We are going to continue to train hard, and we are looking forward to our next opportunity to race in a couple of weeks."

Next, the Trailblazers will tear up the Turf at the Converse Kickoff at Milliken Arboretum in Spartanburg September 21^st.