RESULTS: Coastal Carolina Invitational

CONWAY, S.C. – In the final season opener of his college career, senior Russell Reed powered his way to second place out of 93 entries at the Coastal Carolina Invitational and led Longwood to a third-place finish at the event Friday evening.
 
Reed outpaced all but UNC Wilmington's Alex Boseman with a time of 16:10.57 on the 5,000-meter course. The 6-0 Onema, Va., native grinded through a soft track in damp conditions to finish just 15 seconds shy of the Longwood school-record 5K time of 15:55 he set at the same event as a sophomore in 2013.
 
"I love Coastal, I love this race," Reed said. "I was excited when we got the opportunity to come back out here, but I definitely feel a little bit of disappointment after the race. I had the goal of breaking the 5K record again and hopefully winning the whole race individually, but there were a couple factors that put that to rest. We did well as a team in relation to the field, but everybody's a little bit sore about how they did individually."
 
Running on a golf course softened by rain and prior racing, the Lancers parlayed three top-25 individual performances into a third-place finish behind first-place UNC Wilmington (16:30.86) and runner-up Coastal Carolina (17:04.30). Longwood's average time of 17:32.24 was built on the strength of Reed, who led the race through four kilometers, sophomore Leon Beard, who placed 23rd with a time of 17:14.54, and Johnny Leder whose 17:23.30 was good enough for 25th. Junior Marc Mawyer was also among the top 40 runners, taking 37th with a time of 18:01.83.
 
"I'm so proud of the grit the guys ran with today," said ninth-year Longwood head coach Catherine Hanson. "It was a slow, soft course with the rain, and it was very humid, but even with the conditions we had some outstanding performances."
 
Reed's performance was the most outstanding of the group, coming in more than 10 seconds faster than third-place finisher Jason Weitzel of Concord. The performance kicked off the final season for the fifth-year senior, who is the lone senior on the Longwood squad.
 
"Yeah, it's constantly there and I think about it a lot," said Reed of his mindfulness on competing in his final collegiate season. "But it's not something I'm just thinking about now. It's been with me since we closed out last season. I've really been swinging for the fences all summer, pushing myself hard in training because I know this is it. It's a personal goal to break the other two school records (8K and 10K), but now that I'm a senior it makes everything more real. It's not like I can turn around and say, 'I have time to do it next year.'"
 
While Reed already has his name alongside the Longwood 5K record, he will get another shot to crack his own benchmark next Friday as the Lancers host their signature Longwood/adidas Cross Country Invitational on the Longwood Golf Course beginning at 4 p.m. The Lancers placed third in last year's home race and return all but senior Nick Reed from their top-five finishers from the race.
 
Coastal Carolina Invitational (5K)
Sept. 11, 2015
Conway, S.C.
 

Individual Results (93 entries)
2	Russell Reed	16:10.6
23	Leon Beard	17:14.5
25	Johnny Leder	17:23.3
37	Marc Mawyer	18:01.8
53	Andrew Lanier	18:51.0
72	John Bapteis	20:02.3
Team Results
1	UNC Wilmington (23)	16:30.9
2	Coastal Carolina (47)	17:04.3
3	Longwood (59)	17:32.2
4	Charleston Southern (109)	19:19.6
5	South Carolina St. (125)	20:44.0

 
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