ATLANTA, GA. – For the third time in his career, junior
Nadeel Wildschutt captured the Sun Belt Runner of the Year award with a first-place finish at the 2019 Sun Belt Cross Country Championships. Overall, the Chanticleer cross country team was able to place three student-athletes on the All-Sun Belt teams as both the men and women competed at Nash Farm Battlefield on Saturday morning hosted by Georgia State University.
Men (PDF)
Wildschutt became the first runner to achieve the accomplishment of three consecutive wins at the Sun Belt Championships since Nicholas Aliwell of Western Kentucky (1994-96).
Nadeel and brother Adriaan Wildschutt finished the 8k course in first and second-place for the second-straight year. The two earned first-team all-conference status as they finished 39 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Nadeel finished the race with a time of 23:29.00 and Adriaan ended his day with a mark of 23:34.30.
The Chanticleers had two other runners finish inside the top 25. Juniors Andrew Southard and Doug Mullen finished 23rd and 25th, respectively. Southard crossed the finished at 25:35.80 and Mullen shaved off 17.11 seconds off his personal-best time with a mark of 25:44.10.
Also completing the course with a new personal-best was junior Michael Pieterse who crossed the finish line (32nd-place) with a time of 26:08.40.
Junior Andrew Avery ended the race in 45th-place with his time of 26:47.40.
Dustin Chambers was the final Chanticleer to finish the course. The freshman finished his first Sun Belt Championship race with a time of 27:41.10 (56th-place).
The Chants finished third overall with 83 points as they averaged a time of 24:54.32.
Women (PDF)
For the women, junior Lisha van Onselen became a two-time second-team All-Sun Belt member with an eighth-place finish on the 5k course. The Amanzimtoti, South Africa native finished roughly 12 seconds off her personal-best time with a mark of 17:54.40.
Freshman Ashley Rulison completed her first championship race in 42nd-place with a time of 19:09.10.
A pair of Chants finished the race in back-to-back spots with personal-record times.
Freshman Grace Cole finished in 56th-place with a time of 19:56.00 and senior Alexis Carpenter ended her last Sun Belt Championship race in 57th-place with a personal-best time of 20:04.10.
Fellow Chant senior Alyssa LeClaire finished 60th overall with a time of 20:16.80.
A pair of freshmen were the last two runners to cross the finish line for CCU with personal best marks. Isabel Debari crossed the finish line in 70th-place with a time of 21:01.70 while Kelsey Luther broke her personal-best mark with a time of 22:17.00.
The Chants finished eighth overall with 225 points as they averaged a time of 19:28.08.
Both the men and women will return to action on November 15 at the NCAA Regional in Charlottesville, Va.
For complete coverage of track & field/cross country, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalTFXC (twitter), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.
