MISENHEIMER, N.C. — Freshman Gabrielle Griffin turned in a ninth-place finish in the women's race to highlight Averett University cross country's performance at the Pfeiffer University Cross Country Invitational on Saturday morning.

Griffin, running in her first collegiate race, ran the women's 5K course in 22:28.7 to earn a top-10 finish. Pfeiffer's Madison Lowery set the pace at 18:53.0 on her home course, two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher in a race filled with Division II and Division III runners.

Freshman Carlota Gonzalez added a 34th-place finish with a time of 26:30.5 for the Cougars' women's team, which placed seventh in the race. Averett also got times from sophomore Cassidy Lewis, senior Saida Bangura and sophomore Shannea Ingraham.

On the men's side, Averett finished sixth as a team. Sophomore Jackson Higgins had the top time for the Cougars, navigating the 8K course in a time of 30:05.5 to place 17th. Freshman Kevannio Smith notched a 21st-place finish in 30:39.6 with sophomore Carter Erickson finishing 26th at 31:29.0. Senior Kinkade Huggins, sophomore Nolan Gerwitz and freshman Azael Quintero also turned in times for the Cougars.

"I'm proud of our group today," said Kameron Blanding, Averett's director of cross country and track and field. "We had some guys run their best race of the season today, building momentum for the rest of the season. Gabby Griffin ran tough today, surging during the last third of the race to jump up from around 15th to eventually finishing in ninth place." 

Pfeiffer's Sawyer Helms won the men's race with a time of 26:48.2, nearly 20 seconds faster than the next runner.

Pfeiffer won both the men's and women's races with the top team scores.

Averett returns to action on Oct. 7 when the Cougars make the trip to Hagan Stone Park for the Southeast D3 Collegiate Cross Country Championships as part of the Hagan Stone Classic.