CHARLOTTE, NC – Led by senior Whitney Wagner and freshman Jeremiah Hayes, the Francis Marion University women's and men's cross country teams finished 16th and 28th respectively at the Queens University of Charlotte's Royal Cross Country Challenge, Friday evening (Oct. 11) at McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte, N.C.

The FMU women finished in the middle of the 30-team field, while Wingate University easily captured the team title.  Wagner and senior Rebeccah Hoekstra again paced the Patriot women.  Wagner completed the 5,000-meter course in 19:35.8 and placed 55th, while Hoekstra was 67th in 19:51.4.  Both times were personal-bests for that distance and rank among the Top-10 fastest in program history.

Junior Hayden Clapper placed 126th in a time of 21:13.8, followed by freshman Ashley Wingate in 137th (21:33.5), senior Diana Levy in 170th (personal-best 22:36.2), senior London Barnhill in 206th (24:10.6), freshman Emmeline Wheeler in 209th (24:23.9), junior Kasey Bradley in 221st (personal-best 25:23.3), and freshman Nicole Edlmann in 229th (27:21.7).

King University won the men's team title.

Hayes registered a time of 30:00.0 over the 8,000-meter course to finish in 150th position. Junior Justin Koehn was the second FMU finisher as he placed 152nd in 30:05.1, followed by freshman Gino Lucarelli in 194th (32:49.2), freshman Aaron Robinson in 197th (33:26.1), senior Michael Bigelow in 201st (34:10.2), freshman Justin Woodard in 202nd (34:33.5), and freshman Mark Anthony-Holden in 208th (35:33.7).

Both Francis Marion squads will host the annual FMU Invitational Meet on Friday at the Freedom Florence Recreational Complex.  The men's race will start at 5 p.m., followed by the women's race.