Coastal Carolina University
Coastal Carolina Invitational
Chanticleers Cross-Country Opens Season With Coastal Carolina Invitational
8/29/2019 10:03:00 AM | Track & Field/Cross Country
Sun Belt Releases Preseason Poll
CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina Chanticleer cross-country team kickoffs its 2019 season as they host the 15th annual Coastal Carolina Invitational Friday at 6 p.m. at the Hackler Golf Course on the campus of Coastal Carolina University.
The Chanticleer women's team has won each of the last seven races dating back to 2012. In 2018, former Chanticleer Laura Croll took the crown as she crossed the finish line with a time of 20:14.90. Three of the next four finishers were 2019 CCU returners including Alyssa LeClaire (2nd ), Alexis Carpenter (3rd), and Giovanna Leone (5th). The 2018 Coastal Carolina Invitational saw the Chant women finish in first place with a score of 20 points as they averaged 20:59 on the 5K course.
In 2017, then junior Lisha van Onselen (9:33.0) picked up the victory on the shortened 3K course on the Coastal Carolina intramural fields.
The past two seasons saw the Coastal men and junior Nadeel Wildschutt earned back-to-back first-place finishes at the CCU Invitational event.
A season ago, Wildschutt broke the 5K school record and course record as he clocked a time of 14:58.80.
Wildschutt was the first of three Chants to cross the finish line in the top three spots. Adriaan Wildschutt finished roughly 28 seconds behind his brother for second-place and four other Chants finished in the top 10 including 2019 returners: Doug Mullen (5th), Andrew Southard (6th), Andrew Avery (7th), and Matthew Evans (8th). The 2018 Coastal Carolina Invite saw the Chant men tally 17 points and have an average finish time of 17.11 on the 5K course.
On Thursday, the Sun Belt Conference announced its 2019 Cross-Country pre-season rankings as it was voted on by the coaches and also announced their 2019 Sun Belt Top 7 Men's Cross Country Runners to Watch list.
Coastal Carolina was picked to finish third in the men's standings behind UT Arlington and Appalachian State. The women were picked to finish sixth behind Texas State, Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia State, and South Alabama.
The Wildschutts finished one and two in the 2018 Sun Belt Cross-Country Championships and were easy picks by the coaches for the preseason watch list.
The Ceres, South Africa natives, were 2018 All-Sun Belt first-teamers and placed one and two in four of the five races they competed in a season ago. Nadeel had four wins including a win at the Sun Belt Championships earning himself 2018 Sun Belt Runner of the Year honors. Adriaan placed second at Sun Belt Championships where he earned the 2019 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year and 2019 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year awards.
Senior Lisha van Onselen returns to lead the Coastal Carolina women in 2019 after missing a significant amount of time due to injury in 2018,
Van Onselen also earned herself a spot on the 2019 Sun Belt Top 7 Women's Cross-Country Runners to Watch list as finished the 2018 on second-team all-conference. The native of Amanzimtoti, South Africa, was the 2017 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and a member of the 2017 All-Sun Belt First Team. In 2017, van Onselen placed in the top five five times including two second-place finishes (CCU Invitational and the Sun Belt Cross- Country Championships).
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.
