KERNERSVILLE (October 12, 2018) – The North Carolina A&T men's and women's cross country teams competed in their final meet before heading to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships in two weeks.  

Both teams competed in the Vertcross Invitational hosted by High Point University at Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex on Friday. The women's team jumped up three spots from last season's performance with the men moving up one spot despite missing one of their top runners in freshman Regan Kimtai.

The women finished eighth in the 5k event. Appalachian State took the No. 1 spot in the women's race with 28 points followed by HPU (53), Campbell (92), UNC-Greensboro (118) and Charleston Southern (146) in the top-5.

The Aggie men finished ninth in the 8k event with 258 points. East Tennessee State (36) won the event followed by Coastal Carolina (84), Appalachian State (94), UNC Greensboro (138) and Marshall (149) in the top-5. 

Freshman Morris Kimble finished up front for the Aggie men for the second straight race. He was the only Aggie to finish in the top-50 placing 22nd with a time of 26:33.52. Junior Mar'Quise McGee (27:29.55), Dequan Maddox (27:40.29), Coy Brown (28:44.31) and Joel Freeman (29:12.68) finished in that order for the Aggies. Freshman Nicholas Pope ran a season-best 31:08.99.

On the women's side, G'Jasmyne Butler continued to lead the Aggies finishing 17th in 18:56.19. Junior Kristoni Barnes also finished in the top-50 placing in 42nd with a time of 19:51.76. Freshman Shalah Means (21:04.75), freshman Monzerad Creary (21:27.76), and sophomore Khadijah Reid (21:52.12) were the top-5 finishers for the Aggies. Freshman Paris Hunter ran a personal-best 24:51.58.

The Aggies will have two weeks to train and prepare before heading to the conference championships in Smyrna, Del., Oct. 27.