SWEET BRIAR, Va. – Longwood men's and women's cross country is gearing up for a busy weekend with two races in two days for each team.
 
Friday night, the Lancers split, sending one squad of men's and women's runners to the Sweet Briar Invitational, and the men won their 8K while the women finished second.
 
RESULTS:
 
Women's 6K
Team (Four Teams)
2. Longwood: 39 | 5-6-7-9-12 (14)
 
Individual
6. Bailey Deaver: 28:58.3
7. Lauren Vick: 29:05.3
8. Kai Wheeler: 29:46.8
10. Aislinn Garcia: 30:20.8
13. Caroline Fritz: 31:36.5
15. Rachel Simmons: 33:22.8
 
Men's 8K
Team (Two Teams)
1. Longwood: 15 | 1-2-3-4-5 (6)
 
Individual
2. Sam Sager: 29:33.8
3. Christian Reid: 29:37.8
4. Javier Roldan: 30:52.8
5. Avery Brown: 31:17.8
6. Bryce Christian: 31:36.8
7. Andrew Bernhardt: 32:03.0
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
With the squad split, it provided a chance for runners to work together on a hilly course as the Lancers prepare for the Big South Championship race later this month.
 
For the women, the Lancers worked together at the top of the team. Every runner finished in the top half of the 33 runner field.
 
Bailey Deaver led the way with her first 6K of the season. She teamed up with Lauren Vick, who ran a personal best at the Lancer Pink Invitational two weeks ago, and the duo finished as Longwood's top two runners.
 
Vick ran a personal best in the 6K to finish seventh. Kai Wheeler also made her collegiate 6K debut to finish eighth in the field.
 
Aislinn Garcia and Caroline Fritz rounded out the scoring runners for the Lancers, with Rachel Simmons rounding out the Lancer crew.
 
On the men's side, Longwood swept the top six scoring spots. Sam Sager led the way for the team, finished behind one unattached runner. He led the Lancer pack, with Christian Reid finishing just four seconds behind him.
 
Javier Roldan and Avery Brown ran within 30 seconds of each other to finish fourth and fifth, and Bryce Christian served as the last scoring runner for Longwood. Andrew Bernhardt rounded out the crew. All in all, the men finished within two and a half minutes from Sager to Bernhardt.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"Bailey and Lauren worked well together, which drove Lauren to run a personal best," said Longwood Head Coach Brooke Craig. "It was a team effort in the women's race on a rolling course. This was great preparation for what they'll need to do at conference in a month. For the guys, it was a team win with Sam leading the charge."
 
UP NEXT:
 
The rest of the Lancer cross country cohort races at the Paul Short Run on Saturday morning, hosted by Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Live results can be found here at the 49^th annual running of the race, which features more than 5,200 student-athletes from more than 450 colleges or high schools across 12 races.
 
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