CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Lenoir-Rhyne men's and women's cross country teams opened up their 2026 campaign on Friday at the Queen City Invite. The men took fifth out of 25 teams while the women placed 11th out of 26. The men were the first non-DI team, just narrowly clipping Fayetteville State.

The men were led in the 8k race by two freshman in Danny Nugent and Preston Sangely. Nugent placed eighth out of 257 runners with a time of 25:09.7. Sangely wasn't far behind, taking 23rd with a 25:32.3. Sophomore transfer Craig Allard was the Bears' third finisher, taking 49th with a 26:34.3. Freshman Elijah Baker finished strong, moving up the entire race to eventually take 51st with a 26:39.6. Fellow freshman Owen Speed was Lenoir-Rhyne's final scorer, running a 26:51.7 to take 57th. 

Freshman Brooke Reynolds led the women over the 5k race, taking 41st with a 19:07.7. Rosey Parnell ran a 20:21.7 and Tigist Siler went 20:30.4 to be the second and third finishers for LR. Amy Mendoza Lopez (20:53.0) and Caitlyn Christie (21:27.3) closed out the scoring for the Bears. 

The Bears will travel to Spartanburg, S.C., next Saturday to compete in the Converse Kickoff. The men's race will begin at 9:00 a.m. with a 9:45 a.m. women's race to follow.