The ETSU men’s and women’s cross country teams opened its’ seasons last Saturday at the Catamount Classic hosted by Western Carolina University.
The men’s squad finished fifth with a total of 131 points and the women finished sixth with 150 total points.
The University of Georgia won the men’s race with 28 points, while Georgia State won on the women’s side with 53 points.
The race distances were much shorter than what the Bucs and Lady Bucs will compete over later in the season.
The men raced five-kilometers (5K) compared to the normal 8K, while the women ran 4K instead of 5K.
The Bucs were led by freshman Bradley Yewer, of Newbury, England, who finished ninth overall in a time of 15 minutes and 48 seconds for the tough course.
Also placing in the top 15 for the Buccaneers was senior Greg Sprowl (14th) with a time of 16:04. Sprowl was an all-conference cross country runner last season with his seventh place effort at the Southern Conference championships.
“We were training through this meet,” Sprowl said. “We raced against teams that have already raced 8K and have been training longer than we have.”
Sophomore David Haefner was the Bucs third man with his 26th place finish as Lawrence Lockhart (50th) and Mike Farkas (56th) rounded out the team scoring for ETSU.
The Bucs finished third among Southern Conference schools, as Western Carolina was second overall (58 points), Furman finished fourth (122) and College of Charleston was sixth (137).
In the women’s race, the Lady Bucs were led by Rosaline Addo, who finished in seventh place with a time of 13:35 over the four-kilometer course.
Addo is the Lady Bucs’ top returnee from last season where she finished 14th at the Southern Conference cross country championships.
Also coming through with a strong performance for the Lady Bucs was sophomore Emily Chaney, who transferred from Tennessee Tech. Chaney finished in 15th place with a time of 13:53.
Senior Lauren Campbell was the Lady Bucs third finisher in 49th place with freshman Jennifer Hubbestad from Tampa, Fla. (58th) and Jennifer Howard (62nd) completing the team scoring for ETSU.
The Lady Bucs also finished third among SoCon schools in the meet with Western Carolina placing fourth (87 points), Furman fifth (112) and College of Charleston seventh (196 points).
The overall winner of the men’s race was Western Carolina’s Caleb Bailey (15:06) and the top finisher in the women’s race was Jenn Feenstra or Georgia State (12:21).
ETSU will next compete in the Winthrop Invitational on Sept. 15 in Rock Hill, S.C.

Author