STATESBORO, GA – The South Carolina State men's cross country team finished first and the women were fourth at Saturday's Eagles XC Challenge, hosted by Georgia Southern at Seventh Mile Farm. The meet marked the Bulldog coaching debut of recently-named head cross country and track and field coach Jarod Wims.

"I am very proud of our teams," said Wims following the competition. "It's a good start. I have been impressed how both teams have handled the coaching change. It's obviously they have been well-coached and I applaud them as well as the assistant coaches who have held things together during the transition. We are building and will be recruiting aggressively."

The Bulldogs, paced by sophomore Tyler Duncan who won the individual competition in the men's 8K with a time of 28:11.63, finished first in the team category with 35 points, ahead of Brewton Park, who was second with 63 points.

SC State had three other runners in the top 10. Freshman Trey Felton was fifth (30:25.51), sophomore Marquis Lynch eighth (31:33.96), and Sophomore Tyler Jeffers 10^th (32:42.20). Also competing were senior Trent Montgomery was 11^th (33:00.22), freshman Dorian Watson 12^th (33:15.34) and freshman Cameron McNeill 17^th (34:23.67).

Freshman Jada Banks was the top runner for the SC State in the women's 5K, finishing fifth in a time of 20:39.14 for the freshman-laden Lady Bulldogs who had 106 points for fourth place. Host Georgia Southern, led by individual champion Merabu Nagwandela in a time of 18:53.25, had 16 points to take the team title.

Also in the women's competition for SC State were freshman Debrielle Williams 15^th (23:50.01), Nyah Sidburry 34^th (28:44.71), sophomore Jerdaisha Scott 36^th (31:10.89) and freshman Shadyma White 37^th (31:30.61).