Cross Country Finishes 2nd at SSAC Championships
The Brenau Cross Country team finished in second place at the SSAC Championships in Clinton, Mississippi on Saturday and also collected numerous post-season team and individual awards.
The Golden Tigers, who had three top-ten finishers, scored 59 points and was edged out by conference champion Dalton State (Ga.) College.
Utami Ketchem led the way placing third overall out of 79 runners with a time of 19:08. Senior Brittany Aikens finished closely behind her teammate in fourth overall place in 19:20, while Deishane' Honeycutt clocked in at 19:48, which was good enough for seventh overall place.
Jasmine Ray finished in 16th overall place (20:18), Brianna Archer placed 30th overall (21:04), Kaitlyn Gearing (21:09) placed 32nd and Tyana Luna (21:29) placed 40th to round out the top seven for the Golden Tigers.
By virtue of their finishes, Ketchem and Aikens will advance to the NAIA National Championships in Lawrence, Kansas on November 22nd.
The Golden Tigers also garnered several post-season conference awards for their performances on and off the athletic field.
Seven of the 11 team members-Aikens, Aunica Clinton, Ketchem, Monika Nwajei, Ismaelle Occeus, Sarah Saenz and Natalie Williams- were selected as SSAC All-Academic performers. Award winners are selected after completing at least two terms of attendance and having over a 3.25 GPA.
Ketchem, Aikens, Honeycutt and Ray were all named to the SSAC All-Conference team for their performances at the conference meet.
Luna was named the individual Brenau Champions of Character winner and the entire Brenau cross country team received the Sportsmanship Award, given to the team that best represents the five core values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.
"We are very proud to be runners up in a conference of ten teams," said head coach Susan McIntyre. "Our team being selected for the Sportsmanship Award by our conference of coaches was the highlight of the day Saturday. My team worked very hard this season to model a team that lives by the Champions of Character virtues. This is our first time to receive this award and we are very proud of this accomplishment."