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SALEM, Va. -- For the 21st consecutive year, the Roanoke College Cross Country programs are hosting their annual Maroon Invitational at Mowles Spring Park in Salem.
The meet will feature Roanoke (M&W), Bluefield State (M&W), Ferrum (M&W), Randolph (M&W), U.VA Wise (M&W), Averett (M&W), Hollins (W), Sweet Briar (W), and Mary Baldwin (W).
The Roanoke men will be looking for their second straight team title and the sixth win in the last seven years. The Maroons come into the meet after placing seventh at the ODAC Preview where the team battled oppressive heat and ran a tempo styled race.
Kevin Waterman finished atop the leaderboard for the Maroons in 36th with a time of 31:15.2.
Eight Maroons crossed the finish line just 37 seconds apart, headed by Nathaniel Willis (31:29.0) in 41st, Kevin Elliot (31:33.6) in 42nd, Colin Brennan (31:35.4) in 43rd and Alec Carlson (31:36.1) in 44th. Howard Daniels (31:42.9) took 46th just in front of Athey Crump (31:43.8) in 47th, John Wiggins (31:52.3) in 48th and Colin Wall (32:06.9) in 50th.
The men's race will have a new winner for the first time in three years after the graduation of former RC All-American Harrison Toney who has won the race in each of the last three years.
The Maroon women have won seven consecutive Maroon Invitationals and eight of the last nine.
RC features the reigning ODAC Runner of the Week in Kerri Dalton. Dalton, a senior from Roanoke, Va., posted her first meet victory of the season by claiming the ODAC Preview Meet hosted by Washington and Lee at the Buena Vista Links in Buena Vista, Va. Dalton stopped the watches at 15:16.4 after completing the four-kilometer track just 2.4-seconds clear of second place. Her efforts helped Roanoke to second in the team standings with 61 points.
Back in the mix for Roanoke as well is last year's individual winner at the Maroon Invitational Caity Ashley. Ashley was the first to cross the 2015 finish line in a time of 20:42, 22 seconds ahead of Southern Virginia's Leah Huber. Ashley's time was the fastest time at the Maroons Invitational since 2011.
Both Ferrum and Averett raced at Elon last weekend as the only Division III teams in the meet. The Panthers edged the Cougars in both races.
Mary Baldwin's cross country team opened the season at Bridgewater College. The Fighting Squirrels finished sixth under the guidance of first year head coach Heather Ely.
Sweet Briar took part in the ODAC Preview as the Vixens were led by first-year Victoria Lawson. The Nelson County native traversed the 4-kilometer course in 19:19.
Also at the ODAC preview, Hollins was led by Jhovanna Salmeron who picked up 40th place points. Salemeron posted a time of 18:23, just missing her time of the prior week by four seconds.
Alex Klem led Randolph at the preview with his time of 32:43.2, while on the women's side Taylor Rama posted an impressive time of 17:08.7, which gave her 18th out of 95 runners.
The Bluefield State men and women's cross country teams opened the season Sept. 3 at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational hosted by Catawba College. Anisha Marshall was BC's top female finsher, crossing the line 21st with a time of 22:17:46. Kendall Haynes was the Rams' top male finisher with a time of 31:02.11, good for 31st place.
The UVa-Wise men's cross country team began the 2016 season with a sixth-place showing at the First Annual Berea/Centre College Cross Country Jamboree. The Cavaliers saw two different runners finish in the top 25 as senior Shaquon Wilkins came in 21st and senior William Young placed 24th. The women's team did not score after being down two runners.
