ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – The Southern Virginia University men's cross country team competed in the USA South conference championship Saturday morning, earning their second league championship in as many years.

The 8k race took place on the campus of N.C. Wesleyan University for the second year in a row. The weather improved for the men's race which started one hour after the women's that featured crisp wind and a chilly temperature.

Southern Virginia came into the race as heavy favorites and they took care of business from the get-go.

Reigning conference rookie of the year and runner of the year, Dylan May, was all business from the start. With his recently shaved head – a postseason tradition for the Missoula, Montana native – jumped out to an early lead. May's closest competitor and friend, Drew Topoly, from Methodist did his best to keep up with the Southern Virginia sophomore but eventually lost sight of the "bald bandit" who would go on to win the race for the second straight year.

"Dylan May ran a wonderful race, patiently choosing the times he wanted to surge and gain a lead," stated head coach Kyle Chandler. "A year ago, he won his first USA South XC Individual Championship and not too long after the XC season he was dealt a set back with an injury that required surgery. It's been a long road back for him so to see all his dedication coming back from that injury pay off was super exciting to witness."

Kedryn Chandler, Quin Meyer, Joseph Short and Carter Johnson all got of to great starts and worked together throughout the first half of the race. Will Collett and Aaron Leavitt followed closely behind their teammates.

Meyer eventually separated from his teammates and dueled with a duo of runners from Brevard all the way to the finish line. He held off the final kick, sprinting through the finish line to finish third.

"Quin had a fantastic race and showed a lot of racing maturity going against some strong competition," added Chandler. "To come away with the bronze placing is the top finish I imagined for him." His third-place finish is the third best in school history at the conference meet in the NCAA era. Meyer's finish would grant him a place on the first team all-conference team.

Four other runners would receive all-conference accolades along with May and Meyer after their incredible performances. Kedryn Chandler just missed out on first team all-conference finishing sixth overall, but secured the number three spot for the team in a course PR. He also tied for the fifth best finish at the conference meet in NCAA school history.

"After an experimental race two weeks ago, Joseph Short and Carter Johnson worked wonderfully well in our final two scoring positions," continued coach Chandler. "While Joseph ran a course PR over last year's conference championship, Carter put an exclamation point on his great freshman campaign finishing as the highest freshman finisher at the conference meet."

Will Collett, another great freshman, was the sixth finisher on the team and ran even faster this week than his season best a couple weeks ago. His 11^th place finish awarded him an honorable mention for the all-conference team and rookie of the year.

Johnson, Short and Collett are now all in the top 10 for conference placing in program history. Leavitt and Kenyon Kemp are now in the top 15 and Denver Norcross and Raul Reyna are now in the top 20.

"As a group they ran with confidence from the beginning and executed their race plans very well," said Chandler. "I'm so pleased with their focus and dedication in repeating as USA South Conference Champions. It's always nice when your long-term work pays off the way you hope it does; and for our men today, that was the case!"

Kemp was named to the all-sportsmanship team with Coach Chandler also being recognized at the meet, winning conference coach of the year for the second consecutive year.

Visit http://results.tfmeetpro.com/Mitchell_Timing/2022_USA_South_Cross_Country_Championships/ for complete race results.

Southern Virginia will now get ready for the NCAA Division III Southeast regionals which will take place on Saturday, November 12 in Newport News, Virginia.

For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University cross country, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knightxctf on Instagram.