OCTOBER 2, 2007 --- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

11 SMC Runners Set Personal Bests At Auburn Invitational
Prichard Blasts School Record – Again; Foley Places 4th On SMC All-Time Records 

SPARTANBURG – Eleven personal bests were set by SMC Cross Country runners this past weekend, with a 15th place Men’s team finish and a 19th place Women’s team finish at the Auburn University Invitational. 

In a field heavy with Division I and Division II schools, six of SMC’s nine men in the race, as well as five of the seven SMC women in the race, set lifetime bests.

Sixteen men’s teams and 22 women’s teams participated in the meet held at Indian Pines Golf Course in Auburn. 

Sophomore runner Becca Prichard, of Clemson, S.C.,  shattered her own school record with a time of 17:32:84 and finished 19th in the Women’s 5K – cutting 1:02 off her previous best time at 5K. 

Prichard has now run four races for SMC and set a school record each time – three times for 5Ks and once at 4K.

Freshman women’s runner Jessica Foley, of Little Mountain, S.C., finished at 20:30:96, placing her 4th on SMC’s all-time records.  

Sophomore Wells Johnson, of James Island, S.C., led the SMC men’s team with a 26:28:67 time to finish 61st in the Men’s 8K. 

The Pioneers’ cross country teams went into the meet with the men ranked 11th and women ranked 20th in the National Junior College Athletic Association. 

“We went to this meet, after a somewhat easy training week, in order to run fast times and the men and women did exactly that,” said Mike Foley, SMCs men’s and women’s cross country coach. “We’re just now starting to show what we can do and we’re looking to train hard for six more weeks as we prepare for the NJCAA National Championship.”  

Spartanburg Methodist College has 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in Region X of the National Junior College Athletic Association, which includes colleges in the Carolinas, Virginia, and West Virginia.  

The College is in its 96th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning. 

For more information, contact men’s and women’s cross country coach Mike Foley at (864) 325-5957.