CHARLOTTE – Faith Jeptoo and Jana Zett each turned in top-20 finishes to help lead the women's cross country team to a seventh-place finish, while Kelvin Kibet finished 33rd as the men's team brought home a tenth-place finish Friday evening at the Royals Challenge at McAlpine Creek Park.

Jeptoo covered the 5K course in a personal-best 17:48.0 to take 15th while Jana Zett finished 19th with a personal-best time of 17:51.5. Malea Bennewitz (personal-best 18:27.4) took 44th, Reid Harvey-McKean (personal-best 18:44.4) was 61st, and Sarra Belgacem (personal-best 19:15.9) crossed in 94th. Sophia Olszak ran a personal-best 19:18.0 to finish 96th, while Kayla Barnhardt finished 177th with a personal-best 20:46.5 to round out the top seven.

Kibet ran a personal-best 25:03.7 to finish 33rd in the men's 8K race, while Ryan Ibarra was 62nd with a personal-best time of 25:27.6, with Ed Carney finishing 67th at 25:32.4. Payden Lewis (personal-best 26:15.1) took 111st, Charlie Miller (personal-best 26:20.5) crossed in 120th, and Landen Holland (personal-best 26:26.0) finished 127th. Hayes Weatherman also turned in a personal-best time of 26:34.5 to take 138th and round out the top seven men's finishers.

The women's team scored 193 points to take seventh overall and second among Division II teams, while the men tallied 323 points to finish tenth overall and eighth among Division II teams.
 
UNCP will resume its race schedule on Saturday, October 24 at the UAH Charger Invite. The event will be hosted by the University of Alabama in Huntsville at John Hunt Park. The men are set to begin to at 10 a.m., with the women's race scheduled to follow at 10:50 a.m.