Charleston Southern Wins 2023 Men's Cross Country Championship
SALEM, Va. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –
Charleston Southern had the top three finishers and placed five runners among the top nine to win its fourth consecutive Big South Men’s Cross Country Championship Sunday morning in Salem, Va. CSU finished with 21 points, and the Bucs’
Micah Gilpatric repeated as the individual champion on the 8K course in a time of 23:34.5 to become the first back-to-back Big South Champion since 2009-10.
RESULTS
UNC Asheville finished second to CSU with 56 points -- the Bulldogs’ highest finish since 2000 (also runner-up), while
High Point was third with 65 points. Gilpatric crossed the finish line just over :33 seconds ahead of teammate
Conan Harper, who clocked a 24:07.8 time for runner-up honors. CSU’s
Sam Waldin was third at 24:16.6, with UNC Asheville’s
Adam Hessler in fourth at 24:20.3. Rounding out the top seven were High Point’s
Hunter Steinau (fifth, 24:23.7), Charleston Southern’s
Jaden Kingsley (sixth, 24:33.4) and UNC Asheville’s
Jan Malek (seventh, 24:36.4). Those seven individuals earned First-Team All-Conference honors.
Along with Gilpatric, Harper, Walden and Kingsley,
Caleb Kenyon (24:58.5) scored for the Bucs with his ninth-place finish. Harper received Freshman of the Year honors for his performance in the meet, while High Point graduate student
Reuben Kosche was recognized as the Big South Newcomer of the Year.
Gilpatric’s victory and Kingsley’s effort cemented their fourth career All-Big South honor, becoming just the 15th and 16th runners in conference history with this distinction. Hessler and Steinau earned their third career All-Conference plaudit.
Following the race, UNC Asheville head coach
Adam Puett was voted the Big South Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the first time, while Presbyterian College’s
William Johnson was voted the Men’s Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the league’s sports information directors. The full team standings along with this year’s honorees are listed below.
Final Team Results
1 – Charleston Southern (21)
2 – UNC Asheville (56)
3 – High Point (65)
4 – Radford (110)
5 – USC Upstate (141)
6 – Longwood (183)
7 – Winthrop (193)
8 – Presbyterian (247)
9 – Gardner-Webb (266)
Individual Champion
Micah Gilpatric, Charleston Southern
Freshman of the Year
Conan Harper, Charleston Southern
Newcomer of the Year
Reuben Kosche, High Point
Coach of the Year
Adam Puett, UNC Asheville
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
William Johnson, Presbyterian College
All-Conference (Top 14 Finishers)
First-Team
Micah Gilpatric, Charleston Southern
Conan Harper, Charleston Southern
Sam Waldin, Charleston Southern
Adam Hessler, UNC Asheville
Hunter Steinau, High Point
Jaden Kingsley, Charleston Southern
Jan Malek, UNC Asheville
Second-Team
Daniel Hopkins, UNC Asheville
Caleb Kenyon, Charleston Southern
Griffin Gillespie, Charleston Southern
Graham Ferguson, High Point
Jeff Wedding, Charleston Southern
Kyle Spencer, High Point
Joshua Daggett, Radford
All-Academic Team
Jaden Kingsley, Charleston Southern
Ryan Morita, Gardner-Webb
Hunter Steinau, High Point
Alec Daniel, Longwood
William Johnson, Presbyterian College
Sam Sikora, Radford
Dylan Major, UNC Asheville
Jared Keklak, USC Upstate
Nolan Weisdorfer, Winthrop