Cavs sweep Darton State Invitational
ALBANY – The Cavaliers swept the Darton State College Invitational cross country race today, taking a perfect score in their season opener on the Cavalier Trails at Darton.
Freshman Austin Stewart, of Smithville, won the collegiate 8K in 27:55 – nearly a full minute ahead of the field.
Cavaliers David Thornton ( 28:42), Victor Chicas (29:00), Ean Crawford (29:09) and Jordan Richey (29:15) finished 2nd-5th, respectively, to clinch Darton’s perfect score of 15 points.
But the Cavaliers kept coming as Jelani Omari (29:37) and Jose Batista (29:51) placed 6th and 7th, respectively.
“They all broke 30 minutes; that’s good for our first race,” Darton head cross country coach Bruce Skiles said.
He’s confident they will get faster as the season progresses, as his top three runners today - all freshmen - ran low 16s during high school.
“They’re just not in shape to handle five miles,” Skiles said. “It’s a big leap from the 5K.”
Point University finished second with 59 points, South Georgia State College finished third with 82 and Central Georgia Tech – a newcomer to Region 17 cross country – finished fourth with 104 points.
Darton looked like a pair of fifth consecutive conference championships is well within reach. The program will travel to Americus for the Georgia Southwestern State Invitational, Saturday. The women’s race begins at 8:30 a.m. followed by the men’s 8K at 9 a.m.
The Cavaliers will race again at Darton on Sept. 28, and plan on hosting the Georgia Collegiate Athletics Association Championship on Oct. 26.