The cross country program made a strong showing Friday at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships, highlighted by sophomore Sandra Maiyo breaking a 40-year-old 5K school record.
Maiyo finished 13th in the women’s 5K with a time of 17:07.1, surpassing Teresa Steele’s 1985 record of 17:09. Her performance helped the team finish 11th overall, with six of seven runners recording personal bests, including freshman Audrey Becker with 19:09.7 at 70th and junior Savannah Williams with 19:24.5 at 73rd.
“We knew going into the race the competition was going to be good,” Head Coach Connor Callahan said. “While the team placement might not be what we wanted, the culture and energy of this group has been amazing. This group went into the day with one goal, to compete to the highest standard.”
On the men’s side, UNA secured a fourth-place finish, the program’s highest overall finish since 2020. The team averaged 24:42 among its five scoring runners, which is the fastest in school history, beating last year’s ASUN mark by 16 seconds. All five scorers finished top 50 of a 117-runner field.
Sophomore Brian Bett led the Lions with a 16th-place individual finish in 23:49.6, followed by sophomore Vincent Chepkwony in 29th with a time of 24:25.2. Sophomore Sammy Sang moved up 19 spots in the final split to set a personal record under 25 minutes.
Junior Aidan Shannon and freshman Jack Gruber finished consecutively in 46th and 47th, with Gruber recording the fastest time ever by an American freshman in program history and cutting 33 seconds off his previous own personal record.
“The men’s team came together and did exactly what I asked — finish in the top-four,” Callahan said. “We knew this was a realistic goal, but someone would have to step up. Half the men’s team ran personal best with two others running ten seconds off their personal best. The men all stepped up in a great field of athletes.”
The Lions finished behind Eastern Kentucky, Lipscomb and North Florida, all ranked in the top 10 regionally, while UNA totaled 147 points, edging Central Arkansas by eight points for fourth place.
Looking ahead, UNA will host the NCAA South Regional at John Hunt Park in Huntsville on Friday, Nov. 14.
