Michael Crouch (Yucca Valley, Calif., Yucca Valley) set a new Conference Carolinas Championship record and broke the McAlpine Creek Park course record, as well, as he led the Royals to repeat their perfect score championship title performance from the year before.Crouch posted a 23:55.4 performance for the 8,000-meter (4.97 mile) course to better former teammate Daniel Kanyaruhuru’s conference championship leading mark of 24:18 from 2007 and also broke the long standing course record of 24:01.0 set by Southern Mississippi’s Paul Kemei in 1999.The Royals again took the top five spots, giving them a perfect low score of 15-points with Mount Olive runner-up at 58. Lees McRae was third with 72. Contributing to the rare low-score win was Simon Stuetzel (Meinborn, Germany) in second at 24:40.6; Colin Guillard (Pommerieux, France, Louis Cormontaigne Metz France) in third at 24:43.0; Nelson Mwangi (Kenya, Nairobi School) in fourth at 25:01.9 and Alexander Schilling (Dresden, Germany, Sportgymnasium ) in fifth at 25:03.8. Felix Duchampt and Stefan Liotchev (Durham, N.C., Riverside) contributed in 11th (25:52.2) and 26th (27:48.1), respectively.
The Royals’ top five harriers’ times all rank in the top 10 for conference championships history.By virtue of his win, Crouch was named Conference Runner of the Year, while teammate Guillard was named Freshman of the Year and coach Scott Simmons was awarded Conference Coach of the Year. Queens’ top five finishers were all named to the First Team All-Conference, while Duchampt made the Third Team All-Conference.
The #7 nationally ranked Royals will host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday November 20th, where they will seek their fourth consecutive regional title and a berth to the NCAA national championships
Kimone Hewitt (Orange County, Calif., Segerstram High School) became the first Queens woman to take the individual conference title as she led the Royals to repeat as Conference Carolinas team champions Friday at McAlpine Creek Park. Hewitt broke the league 5,000-meter record of 18:00 with her 17:59.9 time in the process.The Royals, who squeaked out a two-point win for their first title in 2009, tallied an impressive low score of 20 points to solidly distance themselves from runner-up Mount Olive who totaled 89. Converse was third with a 122-point score in the eleven-team field.Queens managed to take five of the top seven spots with Rosa Young (Spartanburg, South Carolina, Dorman Roebuck High School) runner-up at 18:09.3; Maraya Slatter (Benson, N.C., West Johnston) fourth at 18:13.0; Jessica Neville (Cold Spring, N.Y., Haldane) sixth at 18:32.2; and Holly Annas (Granite Falls, N.C., South Caldwell) seventh at 18:43.2. Both Emilia Skolobowicz (Mystoice, Poland, Mystoice High School), 10th at 19:09.0, and Mathilde Timboni, 11th at 19:30.4, also contributed bringing the Royals seven All-Conference honors.
The Royals also posted five of the ten fastest marks in Conference Carolinas championship history.Hewitt was honored as Conference Carolinas Athlete of Year while her coach Scott Simmons earned Conference Coach of the Year. Hewiit, Young and Slatter were all named to the First All-Conference Team, while Neville, Annas and Skolubowicz made the Second All-Conference Team and Timboni was named to the Third All-Conference Team.The Royals host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday November 20th where they will seek their first regional title and their second NCAA national championship berth.
I hope Queens will appreciate Coach Simmons while he's here because I think it's only a matter of time before some Division I programs steal him away. Charlotte is very fortunate to have some incredible running coaching talent in the area - i.e. Coach Simmons and Coach Hadley.
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