FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Kateria Peters (Wilmington, N.C.) paced an outstanding open to the 2026 season for the Guilford College men's and women's cross country teams, becoming the first Quakers woman to win a race since 2018 on Friday morning at the Downback Invitational, hosted by Methodist University. While she led a cluster of strong individual outcomes, neither squad factored into team finishes on the day.
The last time the Quakers featured a woman who won a race individually was back on October 18, 2018 when Marion Cooper '21 topped the field for GC at the Livingstone XC Invitational. Peters now joins Cooper as the only two Guilford women on record to have won a race individually.
A total of six schools sent female competitors on the day with only three squads factoring into the team scoring as Division-II Coker University topped the team scoring followed by Elizabeth City State University and the hosts, Methodist. ECSU and Coker swapped positions on the men's side, actually finishing in a virtual tie with 39 points each, but with Elizabeth City claiming the tiebreaker thanks to their sixth finisher. The Monarchs took third again in the team scores with Guilford and William Peace University not factoring into the scoring.
The women raced first on this day, with 23 competitors participating in the 3.5-kilometer race led by Peters who finished with a time of 14:26.67. She was just the headliner, however, as Guilford did not have a runner of either gender finish outside the top-eight on this morning.
Piper Campbell (Wilmington, N.C.) was just a couple spots back, registering a career-best finish of third with a time of 15:23.60.
Kalaia Peters (Wilmington, N.C.) and
Kaleah Peters (Wilmington, N.C.) checked in with standout debuts like their sister Kateria, with
Kalaia Peters claiming fourth with a mark of 15:57.47 and
Kaleah Peters finishing eighth with a time of 17:55.11.
For the men's 3.6-kilometer race, there were 20 overall runners with a singular Quaker,
Yassine Aallam (Holly Springs, N.C.) and he ran well too, recording his first-career top-five finish in cross country competition. He claimed fifth with a mark of 15:15.32.
Cross country will return to the course next in two weeks, on September 19, to compete at the Yeti Invitational hosted by Cleveland Community College in Shelby, N.C. Start time and meet details have yet to be released.
#GoQuakes
