Virginia Union University's women's cross country team continued to show progress at the Royals Challenge on Friday, October 9, in Charlotte, N.C., recording four personal-best times and two season-best performances in the women's 5K Gold race. All six Lady Panthers who completed the race improved on their previous season-best times.
Senior Toni MiddleBrooks led Virginia Union, finishing 130th in a personal-best time of 19:50.2. MiddleBrooks improved her previous best by 1 minute, 6.6 seconds.
Sophomore
Natalie Young followed in 132nd place with a season-best time of 19:54.8, an improvement of 53.2 seconds. MiddleBrooks and Young both finished under 20 minutes in a field of 221 runners.
Junior
Trinity Charles was the Panthers' third finisher, placing 178th in a personal-best 20:47.0 and lowering her previous best by 1 minute, 38.7 seconds. Sophomore
Aksa Jepkogei finished immediately behind Charles in 179th place, recording a personal-best time of 20:47.4, an improvement of 56.6 seconds.
Sophomore
Gisele Abascal rounded out Virginia Union's scoring five with a season-best time of 21:02.7, finishing 186th and improving her previous best by 56.9 seconds. The Panthers totaled 675 points, with their top five runners averaging 20:28.42 — an improvement of 1 minute, 6.4 seconds over their previous season-best team average.
Freshman
Nijiah Sykes completed the Lady Panthers' lineup, finishing 214th in a personal-best 22:55.9. Sykes recorded the largest improvement among Virginia Union's six runners, cutting 2 minutes, 2.5 seconds off her previous best.
Virginia Union Head Cross Country Coach Franck Charles said the team's performances reflect the talent and potential he sees in the roster.
"Although I'm proud of the improvement, I'm not surprised! I know the talent and potential we have on this roster," said Charles. "Honestly, I'm more upset when we don't perform to our capabilities because I know what we are capable of accomplishing. The sky is the limit for this team!"
The Lady Panthers will look to carry that momentum into championship competition when they compete in the CIAA Cross Country Championship on Thursday, October 22, in Salem, Va.
