Meet: Pirate XC Invitational
Location: Greenville, N.C. (East Carolina University)
Distance: 8k (4.97 miles)

Team Scoring: 1 – Charleston Southern (75), 2 – American (77), 3 – George Mason (86), 4 – William & Mary (88), 5 – George Washington (103), 6 – Milligan (166), 7 – East Carolina (206), 8 – Davidson (243), 9 – UNC-Greensboro (248), 10 – Elon (319), 11 – Richmond (328), 12 – VCU (347), 13 – Coastal Carolina (371), 14 – Radford (385), 15 – Winthrop (403), 16 – Campbell (454), 17 – College of Charleston (470). 
 
The short story: Three Rams ran personal records Friday to lead VCU to a 12^th place finish in a competitive field at East Carolina. 
 
THE FINISH LINE

• Sophomore Cole Dawson ran his best race as a Ram, finishing with a personal best 24:59.9 in the 8k
• Sophomore Jaiden Lockhart also recorded a personal best, clocking a 25:51.1 for his most impressive finish since his arrival at VCU
• Sophomore Carter Smith ran 25:51.2 Friday to lower his personal best by nearly a minute 

 
HEAR FROM THE RAMS
"This week marks the first race of our new training phase. There were lots of PRs out of our top group in today's race despite the large race size. With the workouts getting increasingly more specific, we are looking forward to getting another fast one in at Elon in two weeks' time." – Cole Dawson
 
"Another solid day for the Rams. A lot of our younger athletes are figuring out what works for them as individuals and how to use that to benefit the team as a whole. It was a really good experience to get the crew out here with some great competition and continue to build confidence. We still haven't seen all that this group has to give and I think the team is just excited to keep allowing the pieces to fall into place." – Director of Cross Country Austin Savage
 
NEXT UP
The Rams next travel to Elon, where they will compete in the Phoenix XC Invitational on Friday, Oct. 18. It will be the Rams' last regular season race before the Atlantic 10 Championships, which will be held at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. on Saturday, Nov. 2.