UMO: Weekend digest

By UMO Media Relations
Published in Sports on October 22, 2016 11:24 PM

• Print
• Email

CONCORD -- The University of Mount Olive claimed the 2016 Conference Carolinas men's cross country championship for the fifth consecutive year.

The meet was contested at Frank Liske Park.

Pol Domenech emerged as the individual winner during the men's race, covering the 8k course in 26 minutes, 22.63 seconds. He was named the Conference Carolinas runner-of-the-year.

Adam Craig came in second in 26:28.72, followed by a sixth-place performance from Christopher Perez-Mondragon (27:02.39). The Trojan men received seventh- and eighth-place finishes from Altan Cornu (27:04.59) and Brady Deaner (27:11.4), respectively.

Cornu was named the Conference Carolinas freshman-of-the-year.

Domenech and Craig each earned first-team all-CC honors. Perez-Mondragon, Cornu, Deaner, Fredric Lang and Tai Smith each garnered second-team all-CC recognition. Jonathan Dahlke, Josh Hall and Jacob Urys were named third-team all-CC performers.

"It was great to see our men work together as a team, helping each other throughout the race," said UMO's Matt van Lierop took home the conference coach-of-the-year award for the fifth straight season.

"I'm really proud of their performance."

Women's XC

CONCORD -- Freshman Leah Hanle claimed the Conference Carolinas individual women's championship and two extra honors during the season-ending meet ran at Frank Liske Park.

Hanle was selected as the CC runner- and freshman-of-the-year after touring the 5k course in 22:29.87. She defeated Barton's Sharon Kiptoo by a convincing 49 seconds.

UMO's Bailee Henry (23:27.37) and Kelsey Valentine (23:49.57) secured fourth and seventh, respectively. Shona Blades was 11th in 24:24.27. Meredith Lorient claimed 16th in 24:55.99.

Hanley and Henry earned first-team all-CC honors. Valentine was named to the second team and Blade received third-team accolades.

The Trojans' Matt van Lierop was named the league's coach-of-the-year for the second straight year. He has received a total of seven CC coach-of-the-year awards over the past five seasons.

"The team executed the gameplan perfectly, everyone filled their role," van Lierop said. "They overcame challenges along the way and came out on top."

XC academics

HIGH POINT -- Six University of Mount Olive cross country athletes were selected to the 2016 Conference Carolinas Academic All-Conference team.

Adam Craig, Jonathan Dahlke, Pol Ferrer and Jacob Urys represented the Trojan men. Danielle Heymach and Karina Ordonez represented the Trojan women.

CC academic all-conference teams are comprised of juniors and seniors who have compiled a 3.25 grade-point-average or higher while competing in a conference-sponsored sport. The GPA is calculated based on the student-athlete's cumulative average through the previous semester.