LEXINGTON, Va. (Oct. 31, 2025) – The ETSU men's and women's cross country teams put two months of work to the test on Saturday morning with the 2025 SoCon Cross Country Championships at the Tryon Equestrian Center in Mill Springs, North Carolina. The women's 5k race begins at 10:00am with the men's 8k to follow at 10:45.
EVENT: 2025 SoCon Cross Country Championships
DATE: November 1, 2025, 10:00am (women), 10:45am (men)
VENUE: Tryon Equestrian Center (Mill Springs, NC)
LIVE TIMING: SnapTiming.com
Both teams have entered a dozen runners in their respective races, and the top five finishers will score points for their respective teams. The men are seeking their first championship since 1997 and their first individual winner since Derek Murphy in 1995. The women have won the team championship once, in 1999, and Lindsey Stallworth in 2020 is the most recent of ETSU's two individual winners. Furman is the 12-time reigning champion of both the men's and women's team events, with nine straight individual champions in the men's 8k and five in the women's 5k.
The men's 8k will have national interest as redshirt junior
Jason Bowers, ranked 18th in FloTrack's individual rankings, is a contender and could also threaten the school record time of 23:10.2 he set in 2023. He owns the fastest 8k time in the SoCon entering championship weekend with a 23:19.20 at the South Region Showdown two weeks ago and has won three consecutive races. Redshirt sophomore
Chance Underwood owns the seventh-fastest time in the SoCon at 24:35.00, and freshman
Garrett Hawkins is 15th with a 24:51.35. The men look to return to form after a streak of three runner-up finishes was broken in 2024. They have finished second in six of the last eight championships.
In the women's 5k,
Sophie Beach enters the event as the top Buccaneer with an 18:20.89 time set at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville on September 12, the 11th-best time posted by a runner in the conference.
Camryn Johnson,
Kendall Johnson, and
Meg Lance have also posted times under 19 minutes this season. The Bucs have finished in the top four 10 times in the previous 11 races, with their best performance coming in the 2020 race with an 83-point third place result.
For more information on ETSU men's soccer, go to ETSUBucs.com.
