COLUMBIA, S.C. – Georgia Southern freshman Ashton Lord placed in the top 50 at the Carolina Challenge at Hilton Field on the grounds of Ft. Jackson in Columbia, S.C., as the Eagle Cross Country team started its 2013 season Friday evening.  All eight Eagles competed in this meet as Georgia Southern opened the year with a ninth-place finish. This was the ninth-straight year the Eagles have started their season at this University of South Carolina-sponsored event.

Even though Georgia Southern has participated in this event for several years, race officials made drastic changes to the course to provide even more challenges for the competitors. Temperatures reached a high of around 90 as the women started the course.  Peyton Holm took the number two spot for Georgia Southern as seven newcomers and senior returner Amanda Ventre will continue to build on today's results over the next four meets.

"We were excited to get benchmarks today," said Cross Country Coach Marlo Mincey. "We know there is work that we have to do with our team, and we saw a lot of things we have to improve on. It was so important to get this first competition. Today was a big part of the learning process for our team."

The Eagles arrived on campus for preseason just a week before the start of University classes. Now with this first meet tackled, Georgia Southern will spend the next several weeks training and working on race strategy. The Eagles compete next Sept. 20th at the GSU Invitational.

Coastal Carolina nudged out South Carolina for the team win at the Carolina Challenge with 39 points to the Gamecocks' 41. The Chanticleers had the top three runners in the meet.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through soci­al media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics and twitter.com/GSAthletics, and its new "Eagles GATA" mobile app for Android and iOS. Fans can follow the Eagle Cross Country and Track & Field programs on twitter @GSAthletics_TF.