SPARTANBURG, SC – Freshman Madison Clay had a historic day at the Converse Kickoff on Saturday when she took home a first place finish and set a new program record for the fastest women's 6K. Fellow freshman Natalie Almond finished in second place to help the women's cross country team finish second out of 13 teams.
Clay, a freshman from Morganton, North Carolina, came into Saturday with a second place finish in her first collegiate race at the Fleet Feet Invitational two weeks ago, but she followed that up with a first place, record-setting run today. The freshman finished the 6K event in a blazing time of 22:05.1 which shattered the previous record by 22 seconds. She held a mile-pace of 5:55.3 throughout the run as well.
Another freshman that impressed during Catawba's second meet of the year was Natalie Almond. Almond finished behind her teammate to take home a second place finish when she crossed the finish line in 22:28.7. This mark is one second behind the previous record of 22:27 and ranks Almond third all-time in program history in the women's 6K.
Also securing a top-ten finish was Aislynn Reagle. Reagle took eighth place with a time of 23:03.4 placing her in the top-ten all-time in the Catawba cross country record book.
Anderson won the event as a team with a final score of 35 to Catawba's 38 as the Trojans finished 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 10th.
The women's cross country team will be back in action October 1st at the Division I Louisville Classic.
