Koala XC Wins Due West Opener hosted by Erskine

On Friday, September 6th, the Columbia College Cross Country team traveled to Due West, South Carolina for a rare evening race. The race started at 5:45pm with the temperature at a steamy 92 degrees.

 Columbia College was the only NAIA school in the women's field, and were up against a handful of NCAA Division II schools that included Newberry, Emmanuel, Claflin, and the host school Erskine College.

 The Koalas won the meet with 30 points, just edging out Erskine with 36 points, and Emmanuel rounded out the top 3 teams with 71 points. Columbia College had 6 finishers in the top 15.

 Leading the Koalas was sophomore Hannah Mishkoff who finished in 2nd place overall, and ran a season's best 22:26. Just behind her in 3rd place overall, was freshman Makayla Hollifield with a 22:27 finish. 

 Freshmen Esther Ekundayo and Valeria Bogdanova finished in 6th and 7th place, respectively, with the same finish time of 23:06. Sophomores Ayanah Howard and Diana Gleaton finished in 12th and 13th with times of 24:18 and 24:23 respectively.

 Other Koalas racing in the field were freshman Gabrielle Huggins (25:31), Victoria Heiser-Whatley (25:40), Jessica Heiser-Whatley (26:17), Shelby Winn (26:47), and Grace Wright (27:46).

 The next race for the Columbia College Cross Country team is the Queen City Invite in Charlotte, NC on September 27th.

Race results here: https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/15060/Due_West_Opener