Cross Country Finishes Year With AAC Meet
By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media
CANTON, Ga. – A fast track was covered in a morning frost but under sunny skies as Reinhardt cross country hosted the 2019 Men's and Women's Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Cross Country Championships Saturday morning on its home course.
The Milligan (Tenn.) Buffaloes took home top-team honors with a first-place finish, including the opening two individual placements, as the Eagles' Jackson Helfrich was third overall with a 25:07 race – seven seconds behind – to earn First Team All-AAC honors.
Reinhardt as a team came in fourth-place out of 12 squads with 104 points. Milligan won the event with 30 tallies.
On the women's side, the Eagles were 12th overall out of 15 competing squads.
"Great day for our programs as we ended the season for a majority of our group today," head coach Jordan Turner said. "Jackson ran a courageous race and really made the race from a tactical standpoint, I know he wanted to win, but he should be proud of a career-best time at the Conference and another chance to run for All-American honors at nationals in two weeks. Happy for Brian to punch his ticket to nationals as he ran the best race I've ever seen him run; confident, smart and he and Jackson get a chance to extend their seasons and compete at nationals. Braden ran really well to nab a top-20 finish and a huge PR in a really competitive conference meet. He'll have to wait until Tuesday to see if he's running at nationals but he's had a great freshman campaign for us.
Both teams ran season-best team times and that's all I can ask for our teams as we end the season. The girls had a solid day as well with Caprice, Carly, and Pam all running season bests. As we continue to grow the program, we will move back up in the AAC standings. I always thank our seniors… Jackson, Brian and Jake for what they've done for our program."
Brian Vincent Jr. flew around the track with a time of 26:10 and a Second Team All-Conference nod. Braden Ray was the third Eagle inside the top 19 finishers with a 26:29. Rounding out the top five placements for Reinhardt were Salvador Castillo (33rd; 27:17) and Robert Jordan (51st; 28:13).
Caprice Konitshek ran a strong race to end in the top 40 at 38th overall at 20:32. Not far behind was Carly Harrison (21:53) and Alexis Casey (22:18). Continuing through the hometown team's lineup, Pam Lalo finished strong en route to a 23:27 outing and Ashlyn Tuttle was fifth with a 25:32.
SCAD-Atlanta (Ga.) won the women's race with 43 points.
Up next for Reinhardt is word from the NAIA on the National Championships.
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