Youthful Scots Show Future Is Bright

Official Scoring
 
CLINTON, Miss. – Maryville's 2024 Men's Cross Country season is certainly one to build on after the team's performance over the weekend at the NCAA Regional Championships.
 
Going into the event with just one runner, Steve Cope, having competed at regionals before, Maryville head coach Kaitlyn Carringer-Adams said she wanted to use this experience to help prepare her squad for the future.


 
"Our team is very young," Carringer-Adams said. "The regionals race was a chance for us to beat team records but also a learning experience and something for the team to help prepare them for their goals next year."
 
Cope was the top Maryville finisher in 111th place with a time of 29:16.28, followed closely by Tyler Tangel in 117th place and a time of 29:34.24. James LeNeve came home in 31:00.08, followed by Gustavo Hernandez in 31:45.65, Terry Gonzalez in 32:37.71, Sam Cocchia in 33:19.56 and Paul Kanios in 34:43.86.
 
Maryville's average time of 30:50 was the best at regionals since 2019 (30:25), and the Scots placement of 20th was the best at regionals since 2007 (19th). The team's 616 points was the best score at regionals since 2004 (544) and the third-best regionals score in program history.


 
"Gustavo ran the best I've ever seen him run in a cross country race, and he was even smiling during the race," Carringer-Adams said. "I'm glad he had a great race to end his cross country career. Sam Cocchia also had his best race ever today and ran a PR, improving his time by almost 3 minutes this season."
 
Looking back at the 2024 season, Cope and Tangel now both rank among the program's top 10 performers in the 8K. Cope is in fifth place all-time, and Tangel is sixth. The team accumulated two CCS Rookie of the Week awards, both the 6K and 4-mile program records were broken, as was the team average time record. The Scots had their best team placement at a conference championship meet since 2016, and there was a CCS Rookie of the Year award and an All-CCS award earned.


 
And every runner earned a PR this season:
 
Steven Cope 29:07 (previous PR) to 28:01
Tyler Tangel 30:49 to 28:10
James LeNeve 31:18 to 29:26
Terry Gonzalez 32:55 to 30:29
Paul Kanios 33:28 to 30:57
Gustavo Hernandez 34:53 to 31:22
Wyatt Crider 35:31 to 32:40
Sam Cocchia 36:04 to 33:19
Osvaldo Contreras 38:47 to 37:41
Jonathan Yost 44:05 to 40:40
 
"From the beginning of the season, I knew this group of young men had potential to be the best men's team to come through MC in a while," Carringer-Adams said. "I'm excited to see how they continue to grow next season."