Bears Perform Well at Georgia Intercollegiate Invitational

ATLANTA, Ga. – Mercer's cross country team participated in the Georgia Intercollegiate Invitational, hosted by Georgia Tech, on March 18-19 as a part of its spring season. The Bears posted several respectable individual showings, competing in the distance events.

For the women, two of Mercer's freshman phenoms – Linda Batna and Samantha Woller – qualified for the invitational division of the 1500 meters. Batna would end up placing sixth in the field with a time of 4:43.23 minutes.

The Bears had two placers in the top-10 of the 5000 meters as sophomore Kacie Niemann and freshman Lena Hamvas were sixth and seventh, respectively.  Niemann was clocked at 18:28.65, while Hamvas crossed the line at 18:38.12.

On the men's side, sophomore Andrew Weems had MU's highest finish of the event with a fifth in 3000 meter steeplechase. Weems had a time of 9:50.11.

In a competitive field of 32 runners in the 5000 meters, the Bears' tandem of freshman Sony Prosper and sophomore Jacob Law placed 14^th and 17^th. Prosper ran a 15:28.06 and Law a 15:31.89 for the race.

"We ran a pretty tough workout on Wednesday and despite that, still had a lot of great races," MU head coach Ryan Bailey said. "The Georgia Intercollegiate meet is a showcase of NCAA talent in the state and our athletes did a lot to prove that Mercer is a team that must be taken seriously."