Derek Lionberger
In the famous words of Aubrey Graham, “Yeah, they want it back to back.”
On October 29, 2022, the Southern Virginia University men’s cross country team dominated and won their second conference title in two years. They were ranked number one going into this fateful race and they did not disappoint. Cross country scoring is like golf; the lowest scoring team wins. When a runner finishes in a higher position, they score a point that aligns with their race result (1st place — 1 point). Southern Virginia dominated the Conference Race as their top 5 scoring runners placed in the top 10.
Like Michael Jordan in ’96 and ’97, Dylan May (‘25) has won back to back conference titles. The All-American stud dominated the field in back to back years and is probably the scariest runner to line up against in the country. Quin Meyer (‘24), was able to put up a dominant performance as well, finishing in third (I am in a fantasy football league with this man and he is almost as dominant there as he is at running). Kedryn Chandler (‘25), also known as the mustached marauder, ran an impressive race and finished in sixth place. Rookie runner of the year Carter Johnson (’26) was able to continue his dominant freshman campaign and finish in eighth place. Finally, Joseph Short (’25) was able to run a great race and round out the top 5 scorers with a ninth place finish.
In total, this dominant Southern Virginia team finished with a combined total of 27 points, beating out the second place team by a whopping 24 points. Not included in the point total was Will Collett (’26) with an 11th place finish, Aaron Leavitt (’25) with an impressive 20th place finish, Kenyon Kemp (’25) with a 22nd place finish, Denver Norcross (’23) with a 26th place finish, and Raul Reyna-Sanchez (’25) with a 31st place finish. Southern Virginia is on such a higher level, that even their backup runners are beating out other team’s top runners. Put those guys on any other team in the nation and they would be the top of that team. Southern Virginia will be a dominant team for years to come with the quality runners they recruit.
The second half of this dominant cross country team is an incredible women’s team. Like the men’s team, they were the number one ranked team and the favorite to win this race. Their top runner was Kyandra Chandler (‘23), who took an impressive fourth place. She was followed by the stud sophomore Sasha Willie (’25) who took sixth. The speedster Lilly Dalebout (’25) followed Sasha with a seventh place finish. The freshman phenom Katelyn Warner (’26) finished in 11th place. And finally, Liz Morgan (’25) was able to round out the scoring five in 12th place. The rest of the team that weren’t counted for scoring started with Kamryn Bradshaw (‘’25) in 14th place, Zanna Tresner (’26) in 15th place, Savanna Chapin (’25) in 17th place, Folole Torres (’25) in 19th place, Emmalee Hale (’26) in 20th place, and Malory Lloyd (’26) in 24th place. As you can see, out of the 55 total runners, every single one of our girls placed in the top 25. It would be extremely difficult to find a more talent filled team than the women’s cross country team here at Southern Virginia.
However, even with that incredible performance, they took second place by a slim margin of 5 points. In my opinion, this heartbreaking finish was an absolute fluke. It was a perfect storm of people from other teams placing higher than they should have, as well as a chilly morning for running. Also, if you ask me, I think there might have been some funny business going on with the lady from Pfieffer who won the race but hasn’t been top 10 in any other race this year (Just kidding. But also … someone test her). Even with a heartbreaking finish this year, I have no doubt in my mind that they will come back stronger than ever next year, wiping the floor with every other team.
All in all, I am thoroughly impressed with the high talent level we have here on both of the cross country teams here at Southern Virginia. If you see any of these incredible athletes, give them a big congratulations and wish them luck at their upcoming regional meet this Saturday, November 12 in Newport News, VA.
Run, Forrest, Run: Men’s and Women’s Cross Country was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
