Cross Country teams start season with a bang

The East Carolina University men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to Columbia, South Carolina this weekend, where they competed in the Carolina Challenge hosted by the University of South Carolina. The teams had a great performance in Columbia, bringing home the team and individual titles in both the men’s and women’s events.

Coach Josey Weaver is proud of his teams, and knows the success of the teams will bring further individual success.

“We opened up the season just about as good as we could have,” Weaver said. “We always push team success over individual success, because when you have the team success, individual success will follow. Grace and Nick had some great performances in their first event of their senior season, and we hope continue that success the rest of the season.

The men finished first by one point with a score of 27, edging No.12 ranked Clemson University who finished with 28 points. The Pirates also beat Coastal Carolina University (98), Winthrop University (110) and South Carolina State (125) on Friday.

In the men’s 5K, senior Nick Ciaccia finished first in the tournament, winning the individual title for the Pirates with a time of 15:26.2. He was followed closely by Pirate freshman Ethan Hageman, who finished with a time of 15:26.3.

Ciaccia is proud of the team’s effort, and knows it will serve as a confidence booster to start the season.

“The win definitely gives us some confidence, because our big thing as a team is trust,” Ciaccia said. “Now we’ve seen some results, we will be able to trust our abilities and in coach Weaver’s training. The win will also help some of the younger guys adjust to competing at a college level, which will help us moving forward.”

The Pirate women also finished first in the team scores, blowing away their competition with a score of 22, which was 24 points better than Clemson who finished in second with 46 points. The team went on to put away the rest of their competition in the University of South Carolina (52), Georgia Southern University (132), Winthrop (138), Gardner-Webb University (175), Coastal Carolina (183) and South Carolina State (237).

Senior Grace Sullivan brought home the individual title in the women’s 5K for the Pirate women with a time of 17:08. Freshmen Anna Bristle (3rd) and Abby Yourkavich (4th), and junior Nuria Tillo-Prats (5th) also finished inside the top five for the Pirates.

Sullivan thinks this team has huge potential this season and is proud of the younger players stepping up in the first match of the season.

“It was a great feeling to come out with wins on the men’s and women’s side. It’s been great watching the younger players and freshmen develop and I’m excited about our group this year,” Sullivan said. “I feel like my role is to show them a good work ethic and to help them along in my last year. So far this year, in the first three weeks, we’ve come together and we have a great team this year.”

The win starts off the fall season for the Pirates, who will look to continue the success from their first match, while integrating 22 newcomers into the teams.