The Bevill State cross country team have a better idea where they stand among the state?s best community college cross country teams after a second-place finish at the Gadsden Cardinal 5K Invitational on Wednesday.
Bevill State ran neck-in-neck with host Gadsden State on a beautiful day, finishing just eight points behind the Cardinal. Gadsden State won the meet with 24 points, while Bevill State finished with 32.
The top two ran away from the rest of the pack, with Southern Union taking a distant third with 78 points.
?This was a good meet for us,? head coach Chad Balentine said. ?Of course we are disappointed with not winning, but our team now understands the preparation we need to undertake the last month of the season so that when we go back to Gadsden (on Oct. 30) for the region championship meet, we leave with the championship trophy.?
BSCC and Gadsden evenly split the top six spots before the Cardinal grabbed seventh and eighth to clinch the win. Bevill State?s top runner was freshman T?wanna Barber with a time of 22:42, just 25 seconds behind individual meet winner Megan Ivey of GSCC.
Krystal Gibbs was in fourth place for the Lady Bears with a time of 23:41, while Abby Barnett took sixth place with a time of 24:03.
Next for BSCC was Jasmine Hilts in ninth place with a time of 24:52, and Tineka Moses rounded out Bevill State?s five scoring finishers with an 11th place finish in a time of 26:14. Jozlyn Varndoe also ran for the Lady Bears, finishing in 14th place with a time of 28:43.
?We ran right with Gadsden State all the way,? Balentine said. ?We have some improvement to make, but I believe we can make it. I saw improvement in our team this week from the Mississippi State meet, and you can get a much better picture of how you are running in a field of community colleges.?
The Lady Bears will next be in action on October 10 in a meet at Jacksonville State University.
ACCC STATS
Lady Bears cross country finishes second at Gadsden Invitational
Lauren Beason