Men’s and Women’s XC Teams Finish Seasons Strong
Following the Furman University Invitational, Coach Tyson Murphy guided the Scots men’s and women’s cross-country teams to Georgia then North Carolina to participate in their fifth and sixth events of the season respectively. These events included the Berry College Invitational and USA South Conference Championships.
Maryville’s Sean Hagstrom, a junior from nearby Oak Ridge, Tenn. anchored the Scots to a 12th place overall finish at Berry, which stretched out to a total of 5 miles. Hagstrom, who had his best performance of the year, produced a finishing time of 27:54, which helped him earn the honor of being named the USA South Athletic Conference Runner of the Week.
Hagstrom’s time at the Berry College Invitational was also the best performance in the conference this season by any USA South competitor, as the junior finished 43rd out of 154 runners in the multi-divisional race that included Division I and Division II runners.
On Oct. 28, the USA South Athletic Conference announced that Hagstrom had won Runner of the Year for the 2015 regular season.
With an even more appealing resume, Hagstrom has now collected his second career USA South Runner of the Year honor after being named both the Conference’s Runner and Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2013.
“We’re excited to see Sean honored by this award, especially because of the other talented and deserving runners in our conference,” said Murphy. “It is a testament to his work ethic at practice and his competitive spirit.”
Along with Hagstrom, sophomore Ricky Reilly earned himself a spot on the USA South All-Sportsmanship team. Reilly was the only other men’s runner from Maryville to claim a USA South honor this season.
The Lady Scots were looking to build upon their 11th place finish at the Furman invitational.
The lady Scots were led in their 5k race by Senior Emily Guillaume. At the Berry College Invitational, Guillaume paced the lady Scots with a time of 26:00, which gave her 46th place out of a total of 136 participants. Freshman runner Bailey “June” Rosenbarker finished five spots behind Guillaume with a 26:04 time. Overall, the women’s team finished 12 out of 15 with an average time of 27:19 at the invitational.
Senior’s Emily Guillaume and Makayla May claimed the only end of the season honors for the lady squad. Guillaume earned a second team all-conference spot, while May garnered a spot on the women’s USA South All-Sportsmanship team.
With the end of the regular season, the Scots men’s and women’s runners transitioned into the USA South Championships on Oct. 31 at Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro, N.C., where they ran an 8k and 5k race respectively.
The men’s team finished fourth in the conference finale with USA South runner of the year Sean Hagstrom placing second in the event with a 28:22 time. Sophomore AJ Trotter finished not far behind Hagstrom with a pace of 29:13.
The lady Scots finished seventh in the conference finale with senior Emily Guillaume leading the Scots with a pace of 26:08.