by Kevin Buczek, Director of Athletics Media Relations
GREENVILLE, N.C.-The Barton College cross country teams took off at the same time on the five-kilometer Lake Kristi course Friday evening in the East Carolina University Pirate Invitational with the Bulldog men finishing second out of three teams and the women playing third overall.
Lightning caused the initial start of competition to be delayed Friday so race officials decided to have competitors from both the men's and women's portions of the three-team Pirate Invite toe the start line together.
The host Pirates won both titles as the lone Division I institution. The Bulldogs claimed second on the women's side defeating Shaw University by 26 points. The Bears edged Barton by three points for runner-up honors on the men's side.
Senior Sammy Serem (Nindi Hills, Kenya) led all Barton harriers with a fourth place finish out of 26 in the men's race. For the second time in three tries this season, Serem was able to break the 16-minute barrier with a time of 15:59.
Classmate Christopher Free (Virginia Beach, Va.) was the second fastest Bulldog with a time of 17:04. Sophomore Jonathan Stallings (Durham, N.C.) clocked in at 17:24.58 and the freshman tandem of Austin Edmonds (Sandy Ridge, N.C.) at 17:36 and Daniel Strutton (Rocky Mount, N.C.) at 18:13 completed Barton's top-five scoring. Two more freshmen followed in Jabari Gomez (Mitchellville, Md.) and Tyrone Flemings Jr. (Dale City, Va.) followed at 18:16 and 18:20, respectively. Senior Phillip Averre (Wake Forest, N.C.) posted a time of 18:50 and sophomore John Aranda (Jacksonville, N.C.) added a benchmark time of 19:14 in his first race of the season.
Junior Walter Ngeno (Kericho, Kenya), who has been in BC's top five scoring runners all season, did not compete.
On the women's side, Barton was once again led by sophomore sensation Ericka Skinner (Hopedale, Ohio), who produced a blazing time of 18:59. Skinner finished eighth overall out of 31 competitors.
The next six Lady Bulldogs all finished ahead of Shaw University's second fastest runner to easily finish as the runner-ups. Freshman Cimone Barbour (Dale City, Va.) led the charge with a PR time of 21:27. Classmate Lauren Andreola (Newport, N.C.) crossed the finish line in 21:58; junior Alexa Tovella (Bartlett, Ill.) followed in 22:15; freshman Andrea Roca (Jacksonville, N.C.) added a PR 15 seconds later at 22:30; freshman Marisa Denton (Las Vegas, Nev.) improved on her collegiate debut time last week by 45 seconds at 22:50; and senior Ashley Freeman (Cary, N.C.) had a season-best time of 23:22. Freshman Schylar Cook (Dornsife, Pa.) rounded out the Bulldogs competition at 26:45.
Barton next competes in the Great American Cross Country Festival hosted by the National Scholastic Sports Foundation at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., on Friday, September 30. The women's 5k starts at 3:30 p.m., followed by the men's 8k at 3:55 p.m.
