Men's team breaks 8K record again at Appalachian Cross Country Challenge

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - For the second time in three races, the Midway men's cross country team set a program record for the fastest time in an 8K race.

The Eagles had a score of 240 points in the race, placing ninth in the 20-team field. NAIA, No.1-ranked Milligan won by the narrowest margin possible, scoring 74 to come in just one point better than the 75 scored by No. 13 Cumberlands.

Midway ran an accumulative time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 1 second with the average individual finish coming in at exactly 26 minutes. The final time was 1 minute, 15 seconds faster than the previous record set just 20 days earlier at the Louisville Classic.

Josiah Kocis and Jacob Kocis both earned top-15 finishes for Midway. Josiah ran a 24:54 to come in 11th, while Jacob was five seconds behind in 14th.

In 30th place, Carson Milner ran a 25:22, coming in just a half-second ahead of Tennessee Wesleyan's Mack Alas.

Fresh off a second-place run of 28:30 at the Asbury Invitational, Joshua Kocis improved on that time Friday, running a 27:12 to finish 99th.

Connor Messer completed the scoring for Midway, placing 119th in 27:32. Other Eagle finishes were Lance Logan (133rd, 28:04), Isaac Cockrell (140th, 28:18), Steven Meyer (160th, 29:25) and Adam Higgs (186th, 31:08).

Josiah Kocis, Joshua Kocis, Milner, Messer, Logan, Cockrell and Meyer all ran the fastest times of their college career.

Just moments after the men's team broke the 8K record, the Midway women's team set a new all-time best mark in a 5K race.

The Eagles hope to take this boost of momentum into the postseason. Next up is the River States Conference Championships, which will be held in Evansville, Ind. on Nov. 9.