NASHVILLE – The Trevecca Nazarene University men's and women's cross country teams got off to a good start at the Belmont University Opener Friday morning at the Vaughn's Gap Course at Percy Warner Park.   
 
The 2023 season opener saw the Trojan men place ninth in the 11-team field of almost entirely NCAA Division 1 schools. The women placed eighth of 12 teams, also almost the entire field was NCAA Division I teams.
 
MEN'S TEAM NOTES
Hamzah Abo-Hashema (16:13.9) was the top Trojan, he finished No. 43 in the field of 118.

TNU head coach Austin Selby said, "Really happy with how the guys ran today especially considering we are still in a very heavy training cycle. Our guys showed a lot of maturity as well with half the squad being freshmen this year, and that's always good to see. Also, good to see Hamzah run almost 30 seconds faster here than the last time we opened at this race. Lots of work to be done, but when you sprinkle in a few PRs to start the season it is a good day."

MEN: Team Results (Points)
1. Bellarmine (22)
2. Belmont (65)
3. Vanderbilt (93)  
4. Southern Illinois (97)  
5. Murray State (139) 
6. West Georgia (195)
7. Lipscomb (213)  
8. Western Kentucky (215) 
9. Trevecca (241)  
10. Presbyterian (286)  
11. Tennessee State (302)

MEN: Trevecca Individual Finishes (Time) 
43 - Hamzah Abo-Hashema (16:13.9)
70 - Joseph Garcia (16:46.9)
81 - Shane West (17:04.5)
89 - Caden Meeks (17:18.8)
97 - Jon Alsup (17:40.0)
101 - John Dalton (17:58.9)
103 - Ben Carr (18:14.3)
109 - Dayton Wright (18:34.2)
113 - Joel White (19:41.0)
 
WOMEN'S TEAM NOTES
Ruth Penney led the way for the men, coming in at 19:38.6.
 
Austin Selby on the women's effort, "A lot of things to be excited about for the women today. Probably biggest is that it marked Samantha Rosencrants return to collegiate running almost an exactly a year after the car wreck. Her tenacity and will are inspiring. Additionally, looking at the depth on the women's team is exciting as well as we have not had these numbers or had this many women packed so closely together running so fast. Ruth Penney has had a long road back from several injuries so to see her come out and run as strong as she did is exciting. It was also good to see the maturity the freshmen women exhibited as well in their first college race. It's going to be a fun ride this year."
 
Brooke Koblitz, assistant coach, said, "Women are looking to have both quantity and quality this season. Last year we struggled to put five able bodies on a starting line. This season we have multiple packs of women who are pushing each other to be better, including our top four or five are already close to where our top couple girls were last year. We have an exciting mix of seasoned veterans, women who are hungry to be back out there off of injury, and talented freshmen that are ready to put this team on the map."
 
WOMEN: Team Results (Points)
1. Belmont (20)  
2. Vanderbilt (50)
3. Southern Illinois (93)  
4. Murray State (122)  
5. Bellarmine (142)  
6. Lipscomb (147)
7. Western Kentucky (213)  
8. Trevecca (227) 
9. West Georgia (276)  
10. Dalton State (302)  
11. Presbyterian (313)
12. Tennessee State (362)  
 
WOMEN: Trevecca Individual Finishes (Time) 
43 - Ruth Penney (19:38.6)
49 - Hope Ilias (20:01.0)
55 - Madelyn Ferrel (20:13.9)
60 - Samantha Roberts (20:30.4)
66 - Ashley Alsvig (20:52.5)
74 - Emmy Mattingly (21:14.6)
77 - Raegan Heldt (21:28.1)
78 - Madeline Patton (21:31.0)
95 - Chane de Beer (22:36.5)
100 - Samantha Rosencrants (22:54.4)
102 - Hailey Carmichael (23:28.0)
105 - Kathryn Williams (24:01.4)
 
Up Next
The Trojan hit the same course again, Vaughn's Gap Course at Percy Warner, in two weeks when they host the 2023 Michael Pretorius Invitational on Saturday, September 16th.