Holzapfel wins SAC Championship for second straight year, Tusculum men finish eighth, women ninth

WINGATE, N.C. --- Tusculum College’s Simon Holzapfel posted a school-record time of 25:04 to win the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championship, Saturday morning on the campus of Wingate University.

With the victory, Holzapfel earns SAC Runner of the Year honors for a second straight season, while claiming his sixth consecutive individual title in as many meets in 2010.

The Tusculum men posted 211 points and finished eighth, while the TC women placed ninth with 255.

Mars Hill claims its 14th consecutive conference title with 51 points.  Lenoir-Rhyne finished second with 70 points, followed by Anderson (73), Wingate (86), Catawba (182), Lincoln Memorial (187), Brevard (193), Tusculum, Carson-Newman (215) and Newberry (219).

Anderson captured first place honors in the women’s championship with 47 points for the Trojans' first league championship in their inaugural season in the league.  Lenoir-Rhyne placed second with 53 points, followed by Wingate (81), Mars Hill (120), Catawba (151), Lincoln Memorial (181), Brevard (194), Tusculum and Newberry (281).

In the men’s meet, four Tusculum runners posted personal best times on Saturday.  Along with Holzapfel, Ryan Badertscher recorded a personal best time of 29:01 to finish 53rd in the 8,000-meter race.  Ben Hale also posted a personal best of 30:51 to finished 66th, while Stephen Kinunda placed 77th with a time of 31:39.  Junior Nathan Carver finished 77th with a personal best 32:58, while Chad Shelton finished 81st with 36:47.

Tusculum’s Jenny Grant finished 44th in the women’s race with her time of 22:43 on the 5K layout.  Kim Brown finished 54th with her time of 23:36, while Ariana Sigmon came in 55th with 23:42.  Senior Jessica Figler finished 57th with a career-best time of 23:48, while Ashley Andrukonis also had a personal-best with 24:39 to place 65th.

Holzapfel becomes only the third runner in league history to win the individual SAC title in consecutive seasons.  It was also his 16th career individual first place showing.