Stefanoff and Poncelet earn individual honors at CAA Championship

       The Georgia State women's cross country team placed third overall, while the men placed fourth at the CAA Championship Meet last Saturday. Despite the windy conditions, there were 672 runners on the Panthers home course at Nash Farm.

      In this event, three Panthers including freshman Hannah Stefanoff, sophomore Valentin Poncelet, and junior Katherine Show- alter all earned CAA honors for finishing in the top 12.

      Stefanoff finished first for the women with a time of 22:50 placing her ninth overall, followed by Showalter who finished second for the women with a time of 22:54, placing her eleventh over- all.

Head coach Chris England was proud of his runners.

        "I'm so proud of our teams," England told Georgia State Athletics. "They exceeded my expectations. The Georgia State staff did an amazing job of dressing up

the course. It looked like a championship course and I really think that helped our teams compete at a championship level."

       Poncelet finished first for the men with a time of 25:29, placing him eighth overall. Poncelet and Stefanoff have been Georgia State's best runners all season and both have amassed a number of accolades this season including individual honors at the CAA Championship.

     "Like all season, they did their job leading the team," England told Athletics. "Hannah ran a great race and is having a phenomenal freshman year. Valentin is fitting in well and really motivating his teammates to improve. We expect a lot more from both of them in the future."

     On the women's side, other top runners for this event were freshmen Sarah McCarthy and Niamh Kearney and senior Kacee Houle. McCarthy finished third for her team with a time of 23:15, followed by Houle with a time of 23:31. Kearney finished the race with a time of 23:43.

      On the men's team, the top runners were the usual suspects including sophomore Tyler Tomy, freshman Austin Boetje, and senior Chris Harper.

     Tomy finished second for his team with a time of 26:31, followed by Harper who finished with a time of 27:02. Boetje finished 27:11 making him 35th overall.

    "Most of it was the culture of the team changing," England told Athletics. "The work ethic of the team changed as well as the physical maturity. We had a lot

of freshman last year who are all sophomores now. Having a year of college cross country under their belts has really made them focus."

    Next, Georgia State will compete at the NCAA South regional meet held in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Saturday Nov. 12 at 10 a.m.