GREENVILLE, N.C.- The VMI men's cross country team wrapped up one of the finest seasons in program history Saturday, as they finished 19th of 30 teams at the NCAA Southeast Regional meet, hosted by East Carolina at Lake Kristi. Sophomore Donnie Mikels led the team as he has in every race this season with his 63rd place overall finish, while freshman Kelsey Stafford was the first of two VMI runners in the women's race, placing 129th overall.

The men's race, which featured 30 teams and 207 runners, was a 10,000-meter race, the longest the Keydets have competed at this year. Following Mikels' time of 31:59 was Anthony Harris (32:43, 112th), Edwin Lugo (32:49, 120th), Ben Switzer (33:04, 131st) and Patrick Eggleston (33:28, 146th). Also competing for the Keydets were Kurt Able (33:31, 148th) and Jared Klajnbart (34:27, 176th).

“Our top guys ran well today, but overall we didn't have our best race today,” said head coach Paul Spangler. “We really peaked at Conference, which is what we wanted to do. Our goal today was to be somewhere around 17th, so we fell a little short of what we wanted to do. But we had a great season, we accomplished a lot of the goals that we set for ourselves entering the season.”

On the women's side, Stafford (23:22, 129th) was joined by freshman Christina Mowatt-Larssen (24:45, 183rd) as the only women's competitors to run in the 6,000-meter race.

“I thought Kelsey ran very well today,” said Spangler. “Competing today will give Kelsey and Christina good experience going into next season.”

The men's team wraps up a season that saw them earn their first ever regional ranking while matching their best Conference finish since 1980 (second). The women's team, on the strength of three freshmen, achieved their best ever finish in a Conference Championship, placing fifth of nine teams.