GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Memorial University men's and women's cross country teams opened their respective seasons Friday evening competing in Tusculum University's Zaxby's Open at the Holston Home for Children Course in Greeneville, Tennessee.
 
The Railsplitters and Lady Railsplitters both finished near the top in the team standings and both teams had individuals finish among the top five.
 
The Lady Railsplitters, running with a team dominated by freshmen and sophomores, finished second in the team competition with a composite time of 1:50:38, trailing only champion Milligan, who was just over seven minutes faster (1:43:58).
 
Sophomore Tabea Kandlbauer led the women covering the 5K course in 20:38.3, good for fourth place. Tusculum's Nicole McMillen set the pace with a time of 18:58. 
 
Fellow sophomores Maria Chellah and Kiley Holmes finished 11th and 13th respectively, followed by freshman Ashlyn Johnson in 14th, giving LMU four finishers in the top 15. Chellah posted a time of 22:09.9 and Holmes followed close behind with a 22:22.6 time. Johnson clocked in at 22:32.9 in her collegiate debut.
 
"Tabea got out and executed well to get into the top five," stated head coach Jeremy Donahue. "I thought the group behind Tabea did a good job of finding each other and competing for top spots."
 
Sophomore Brooke Foster finished 17th (23:15) in the 46-woman field, followed by McKenna Korody in 18th (23:31.8), Unique Earley 21st (23:46.4) and junior Chloe Harp in 24th place (24:00.3).
 
In the team standings, LMU finished ahead of two fellow South Atlantic Conference teams, host Tusculum (third) and the University of Virginia's College at Wise (fifth). Southern Wesleyan (fourth), Warren Wilson (sixth) and Walters State Community College (seventh) completed the field.
 
"I was pleased with our second-place finish and the fact that we outpaced two conference rivals," said Donahue.
 
Sam Lloyd-Perks and Michael Jakubek, who finished fourth and fifth respectively, led the Railsplitter men to a third-place team finish.

Lloyd-Perks posted a time of 16:35.8, putting him less than a minute behind individual winner Will Cronin of Tusculum, who covered the 5K course in 15:54.2. The Pioneers took the top two spots with Kyler Hodges in second (16.23.1) and Milligan's Jake Crow (16.30.2) third.
 
Sophomore Jakubek kept pace with Perks, posting a time of 17:01.6. Freshman Mason Johns made his collegiate debut finishing 13th with a time of 17:34.2, followed by Harrison Calhoun in 19th (18:02.4), Daniel Johnson 31st (19:27.7) and Jacey Grabeel 52nd (26:05.8).
 
Milligan edged out host Tusculum in the team competition based on individual finisher points with LMU third and Southern Wesleyan (fourth), Warren Wilson (fifth), Walters State Community College (sixth) and UVa-Wise (seventh) rounding out the field.
 
"As expected, Sam and Michael ran tough at the front of the pack," noted Donahue. "They work well together in practice and I think that helped them today. Behind those two, Mason had a strong collegiate debut. His development as a distance runner will be fun to watch."
 
As season-opening meets go, Donahue was pleased with both programs' starts to their campaigns.
 
"We are coming off a good block of training and I expected we would head into today a little flat," he said. "I wanted to see some fight in this first outing, which I saw on a very tough course."
 
Both teams will hit the road again Saturday, Sept. 21 for the Bulldog Stampede in Wingate, North Carolina.
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter and Lady Railsplitter cross country throughout the 2019 season.
 
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4th Tabea Kandlbauer (20:38.3)
11th Maria Chellah (22:09.9)
13th Kiley Holmes (22:22.6)
14th Ashlyn Johnson (22:32.9)
17th Brooke Foster (23:15.0)
18th McKenna Korody (23:31.8)
21st Unique Earley (23:46.4)
24th Chloe Harp (24:00.3)
 
WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS
1. Milligan (1:43:58)
2. LMU (1:50.58)
3. Tusculum (1:54.30)
4. Southern Wesleyan (1:57.10)
5. UVa-Wise (2:12.05)
6. Warren Wilson (2:06.19)
7. Walters State (2:11.17)
 
MEN'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
4th Sam Lloyd-Perks (16:35.8)
5th Michael Jakubek (17:01.6)
13th Mason Johns (17:34.2)
19th Harrison Calhoun (18:02.4)
31st Daniel Johnson (19:27.7)
52nd Jacey Grabeel (26:05.8)
 
MEN'S TEAM RESULTS
1. Milligan (1:25:21)
2. Tusculum (1:25:08)
3. LMU (1:28:41)
4. Southern Wesleyan (1:34.39)
5. Warren Wilson (1:36:43)
6. Walters State (1:38:24)
7. UVa-Wise (1:39:39)