The App State men's and women's cross country teams are set to host the Fire Tower Project Run on Friday at the Don Kennedy Trails at State Farm in Boone. The women's 6K will begin at 5 p.m. with the men's 8K to follow shortly after at 5:45 p.m.
Last Time Out
Noah Martinson led the way for the Mountaineers for the second straight meet to start the 2026 campaign. Martinson captured a ninth-place finish in the men's 8K, propelling the Mountaineers to a second-place finish, beating out the likes of Georgia Tech, Auburn and Clemson among the 29 teams in the field and finishing behind only No. 4 Alabama. His time of 23:57.3 was nearly 12 seconds faster than his previous best and helped him capture his first Sun Belt Cross Country Runner of the Week award. He was followed swiftly by Thomas Wlazlowski, who claimed a spot in the top 20 with a time of 24:19.6. Rounding out the top five were Aidan Kneeland (24:40.5), Jackson Tuck (24:49.4), and Derek Waite (24:52.2).
In the women's 5K the team was paced by Ashby Williams with a time of 18:18.2. Following just seconds behind her were Josie Jackson (18:23.8), Baylor Wolfe (18:27.3), Breanna Budzinski (18:30.9) and Tessa Massa (18:32.4). Their gap of 15 seconds was nearly a 45 second improvement from the meet prior, and all five runners finished in the top 100 individually in a field of 309 runners.
Up Next
The Mountaineers will send runners to multiple meets their next time out as they travel to College Station, TX to take on the Arturos Burrios Invitational on Oct. 16 and will get a look at the NCAA regionals course as they travel to Spartanburg, S.C. to tackle the Upstate Invite on Oct. 17.
