Freshmen Austin Sigman and Kevin Macias continued to lead the Bluefield State Cross Country team as the pair cross the line in sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth place Friday at the Roanoke College Invitational.
Sigman's performance of 29:44.1 was a personal best by nearly 15 seconds, while Macias covered a true 8K race for the first time in 29:49.3.
"We ran a mis-measured course at Virginia State earlier in the year, so this was the first or second career race on a true 8K course for all of our men," said B-State Head Cross Country Coach Brooks Rexroat. "With all of our top five being first-year collegiate runners, they're adding two miles to their familiar race distances, so there will be some ups and downs as they acclimate—that distance jump one of the toughest adjustments to make in collegiate athletics. Austin, Kevin, and (third B-State finisher) Javon McBride really attacked the course today, and it took a lot of grit to even get in the middle of the pack against an incredibly talented field. We knew this would be a strong race, but the times were just blistering today and our lead group held its own. These guys have the potential to grow and get better, but I think this race was a little bit of a wake-up call in terms of where we need to go as a group."
McBride's run was also a personal best, trimming nearly 35 seconds from his effort last week at Queens University.
Tyler Davis and Christon Hardemon rounded out the finishers for B-State, which finished in 16th place as a team.
"The team finish was disappointing, but we had a good talk after the race," Rexroat said. "We had a few runners who ran the absolute best race of their lives and a couple who just struggled on this course. In cross country, though, that last finisher counts as heavily in the team score as the lead runner. In a ball sport like football or soccer, volleyball or basketball, someone can have a rough day but another teammate can pick up the slack for a bit to smooth over a rough performance and the team can still pull out a win, but in cross it's just raw numbers at the end of the day. None of us want to be judged by our worst day, and we reminded the team of that—the balance of work we've done this year shows well, and we're happy about the direction we're going in."
NCAA Division I opponent Radford easily won the race, with host Roanoke finishing second.
The race concludes the regular season for the B-State men.
