On Friday, Oct. 27, the Vanderbilt Cross Country team traveled to compete in the SEC Championships at Charwood Golf Club in Columbia, S.C. The men’s team placed 12th in the event — their second 12th-place finish in as many years.The women’s team saw slightly more success, finishing seventh overall for its best finish since 2020.
Junior Julia Rosenberg led the women’s side, crossing the finish line at the 21:18.7 mark, which placed her in 44th place in the event. Seconds behind her was the pairing of junior Cameron Fawcett and freshman Colette Kinsella, with times of 21:31.6 and 21:32.0, respectively. The two paced each other to a top-50 finish, as Fawcett finished in 49th place and Kinsella landed at 50th. Senior Caroline Eck clocked in at 21:38.8, good for 55th place. Rounding out the top 5 for the Vanderbilt women was Lainey Phelps with a time of 21:40.6, placing 61st overall..
Vanderbilt Women’s Cross Country bounced back nicely after struggling in its previous outing at the XC23 Invitational two weekends ago. Rosenberg and Kinsella’s times were both personal bests, along with senior Joslin Blair (21:57.4), who finished sixth among all Commodores.
“The women competed well,” director of cross country and track and field Althea Thomas said. “This is the highest finish we’ve had in the last three years. We were definitely focused on being the best we could today. We had some great performances by a mix of our upperclassmen and our young athletes. They’re coming in and working together. We saw that in the first half of the race. They really worked together to be a pack and run and be competitive. It really feels good to see how they feel accomplished and how it will help them moving forward.”
Vanderbilt Women’s Cross Country will look to keep it going as it gets next weekend off before traveling to the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. for the NCAA South Region Championships on Friday, Nov. 10.
