Cross Country Concludes Season at G-MAC Run

CEDARVILLE, Ohio (October 20, 2012) - For the first time in the Urbana University cross country programs' 5 years of existence, the Blue Knights ended their fall season at a conference championship meet. On Saturday morning at Cedarville University, the Blue Knights completed their first season under Head Coach Kevin Horne.  Six runners competed for Urbana, three in the women's 5K and three in the men's 8K.  Nationally ranked Cedarville won the men's and women's inaugural G-MAC Championships on their home course.

On the women's side, the Blue Knights were once again paced by freshman Jackie Smith.  Smith led the Blue Knight pack for the third straight race.  She fell about a minute shy of her own school record in the 5K, crossing the finish line in 23:58.36.  Smith ran a Top 10 time at UU in her final 5 races of the season.  She is the only women's runner in school history to run a sub-23-minute 5K, a feat she accomplished twice this fall.

Smith was followed closely by teammates Sara White and Melissa Bell.  White ran her final collegiate race in a time of 24:38.10, averaging 7:55 per mile.  Like Smith, White was about a minute behind her personal best, which she set in her previous race at Wilmington College.  Bell crossed the finish line two spots behind White in a time of 26:11.87.  The 2011 Female Blue Knight Runner of the Year topped out at 24:50 this fall in the 5K, which was just 2 seconds shy of her personal best.

On the men's side, junior Dylan McCubbin continued his strong fall.  McCubbin led the Blue Knight pack for the second straight race and the fourth time in six tries this fall.  His time of 31:54.74 was also almost exactly a minute off last week's race at Wilmington.  McCubbin's average mile took 6:25, which was just seconds ahead of UU's second and third place runners, Patrick Malloy and Josh Brown, respectively.  Malloy's average mile was 6:32.  He crossed the finish line in 32:44.77, just 28 seconds ahead of fellow junior Josh Brown, who averaged 6:40 per mile.  Following the theme of the day, both runners finished between a minute and a minute-and-a-half off their personal record pace.  Shortly after the race, Brown was voted Homecoming King at the Urbana Homecoming Football game.  He was unable to attend the halftime crowning because of the G-MAC Championship run.  [Men's Results][Women's Results]