The Lenoir-Rhyne Women’s Cross Country Team finished in 11th place out of the 29 teams at the Royals Challenge. The event had a mixture of Division I and II teams as the Bears finished with a team score of 322.

The event had Division I teams like Charlotte, Davidson, South Carolina and Wake Forest and had six SAC schools in the event. Out of the six, the Bears finished in third behind Wingate and Carson-Newman. Carson-Newman finished one spot ahead of the Bears in 10th place.

Paige Ewald lead the Bears with a 26th place finish in the star-studded event. Ewald finished with a time of 18:32.12 at McAlpin Pancake Course in Charlotte, N.C.

Elizabeth Kessler finished in 38th place with a time of 18:53.12 while Carolin Fuehren finished ten second behind her teammate in 51st place. Olivia Overholt had a time of 19:48.18 while Elisabeth Ronnstad had a time of 20:48.77.

On the men’s side, Lewis Budgen finished 19th and Jacob Parkinson finished in 24th place as the duo both finished in the top 25 in the star-studded Royals Challenge. The field of 275 runners combined teams from both Division I and II as the Bears finished 16th as a team out of 30.

Budgen finished with a time of 25:14.34 while Parkinson came in eight seconds later to place inside the top 25. Garrison Fisher and Isaac Riggs were two minutes behind Budgen and Parkinson as Fisher finished with a time of 27:47.41 and Riggs with a time of 27:50.83. Harrison Hickman rounded out the Bears lineup with a time of 29:04.27.

The Bears finished 4th out of the 7 SAC teams with Wingate, Catawba and Carson-Newman ahead of LR while Tusculum, Limestone and Mars Hill were behind the Bears in the team overall standings. Catawba finished one spot ahead of the Bears in 15th place.

LR will now have two weeks off to prepare for the SAC Championship on October 21st, an event the Bears will host this season in Newton, at Southside Park.