Nov. 2, 2002

Appalachian State's men and women made a clean sweep at the 2002 Cross Country Championships this morning in Hollywood, SC. Both teams edged out Chattanooga to win this year's title.

Appalachian State won the meet with 63 points, edging Chattanooga by five points. Western Carolina finished third with 74 points, followed by ETSU (83), Furman (99) and Davidson (140). The Citadel took home seventh (203) with VMI (214), UNCG (225), College of Charleston (291) and Wofford (342) rounding out the field. This is ASU's seventh cross country title and third straight. The Mountaineers won the 2001 meet en route to winning the triplecrown in the 2001-02 season.

Chattanooga sophomore Gediminas Banevicius won the individual title with a time of 24:50.20, earning him Runner ofthe Year honors. Kevin Crosby from Furman finished second in a time of 24:55.04 with Western Carolina's Adam Pruett turning in a third-place time of 24:58.14. ETSU sophomore Bradley Yewer finished fourth and was the highest finisher from the 2001 meet. Yewer's teammate James Grufferty earned the Freshman of the Year award with a time of 25:17.70. ASU head coach Mike Curcio was named the Coach of the Year by his peers.

On the women's side, Appalachian State took home the crown with 43 points, followed by Chattanooga with 60 points and Davidson (70). Furman finished fourth with 87 points, followed by UNCG (142), ETSU (182) and Georgia Southern (200). Western Carolina finished eighth with 201 points with VMI (222), College of Charleston (269),Wofford (338) and The Citadel (364) rounding out the field. This is ASU's eighth title and first since 1996. UTC sophomore Shannon Womack earned the Runner of the Year award with her winning time of 17:42.06. Womack was the 2001 Freshman of the Year and finished second in last year's meet. A tri of ASU runners took the next three spots in senior Sarah Primeau (17:49.48), Katie Sujkowski (18:03.07) and Jennifer Kelley (18:06.99). Kelley was also named the Freshman of the Year. Chattanooga's Gina Recher, the 2001 individual champion, finished fifth.

Davidson head coach Jennifer Straub earned the Coach of the Year honors.