Jackson, MS-The Belhaven men's and women's cross country teams recently completed the 2009 season that saw a number of solid team and individual performances. For the second year in a row, the Blazers had runners qualify for the NAIA National Meet in Vancouver Washington and both the men and women boasted second place team finishes in meets this past season.

The Belhaven men and women opened up the year at the Mississippi College Season Opener against some tough NCAA Division I and II competition. The Blazer women finished fifth out of ten teams while the men recorded a fifth place finish out of eight teams. Hannah Reese, who had a great year for Belhaven, had an outstanding race finishing sixth overall with a time of 16:28.93 in the 4k run. The men were paced by Thomas Kazery with an overall finish of 22nd and a time of 18:03.30 in the 5k race.

Over the next three meets, the Christian Brothers Twilight Classic, Loyola Wolfpack Invitational, and the Rhodes College Invitational, the Belhaven women's team competed on an individual basis while the men turned in 24th, 2nd, and 10th place finishes respectively. Belhaven's second place finish in the Loyola Wolfpack Invitational was their best of the season. Belhaven College was led by sophomore Thomas Krazery, sophomore Peter Davis, and senior Douglas Coker as they completed the race in 9th, 10th, and 11th with times of 19:32.00, 19:55.00, and 20:03.00 correspondingly. Reese continued to be Belhaven's strongest runner on the women's side turning in the best team times in each of the three meets.

Both teams finished the regular season competing in the Mississippi College Invitational, University of Southern Mississippi Open, and the University of Mobile Rampage. The men tallied finishes of 13th, 4th, and 3rd place while the women finished 11th in the Mississippi College Invitational, competed as individuals in the USM Open and turned in their best performance of the season which was 2nd in the Mobile meet. In the Mississippi College Invitational, Reese crossed the line in 5th place out of 106 runners with a total time of 24:50.46 garnering her Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Runner of the Week Honors. Kazery, Davis, and Lennon led the men in the final three meets of the season and Reese ended up with her best finish of the season at Mobile completing the course in fourth place out of 31 runners with a total time of 20:20.

The teams took a weekend off to gear up for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championships which were hosted by Xavier University at Choctaw Trails in Clinton, MS. Belhaven ended up finishing fourth out of seven teams on both the men's and women's sides and missed qualifying for the NAIA National Meet as a team. However, Thomas Kazery and Hannah Reese both qualified for the 2009 NAIA Cross Country National Championship which was held in Vancouver, WA on November 21st.

Kazery, a sophomore from Jackson, MS, was Belhaven's top runner with an overall time of 29:51.11 finishing 8th out of 53 contestants in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship. Reese, a freshman from Brandon, MS, paced the Blazers finishing in 4th place out of 44 runners with a total time of 20:12.55 in the GCAC Championship.

The 2009 NAIA Cross Country National Championship Meet presented by Nike was November 21st at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash. Reese completed the 5k race with an overall time of 21:32 and sustained a pace of 6:56 finishing 272nd while Kazery completed the 8k race with an overall time of 31:32, maintained a pace of 6:21 throughout the race, and placed 319th. The women's race had a total of 330 competitors and men's race had a total of 323 participants.

The Blazers will have a lot build on next season as both Kazery and Reese will return next year with a valuable year of experience under their belts. Senior's Lea Schumacher and Douglas Coker will both be graduating this coming spring.

Schumacher and Coker have not only excelled athletically, but have each done an outstanding job in the classroom throughout their time at Belhaven. Schumacher and Coker were both named as 2009 Daktronics-NAIA Cross Country Scholar-Athletes. In order to receive this honor, a student athlete must be nominated by their coach, maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, and have achieved junior academic status to qualify.

Overall, the 2009 season was a success and with a number of talented runners returning next year there are a lot of pieces in place to build on for 2010.