MILL SPRING, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) men's cross country team placed as the runner-up among 11 squads at the 2026 Tryon Southern Conference (SoCon) Championships, presented by Ingles, at the Tryon Equestrian Center on Saturday morning.
Khalid Abdullahi and Luke Hühn earned All-Conference honors to power the Spartan men, with the Blue & Gold placing five runners in the top 35 for the team's best finish since 2011 and first runner-up finish since 2010.
How it happened
One of multiple Spartans coming off a career-best outing in the 8K last time out at the Upstate Invitational, Abdullahi's momentum carried over into his first All-SoCon finish. The senior cruised to a time of 24:38.8, crossing the line seventh to make the first team; he is UNCG's first runner to earn first-team All-Conference honors since alumni Joe Thoma finished third in 2022.
Hühn earned second-team All-Conference honors for the second time in as many seasons in Greensboro, the sophomore building on his 12th-place finish in 2025 by improving to 11th with a time of 25:02.9.
Lane Prochaska improved 15 spots from 2025 to narrowly miss giving the Spartans a third All-Conference nod, crossing the line 17th with a time of 25:24.2.
Spencer Slayton blazed a personal-best time of 25:52.6 at the right time, finishing 27th to score for UNCG as the team's fourth finisher.
Logan Ruffner rounded out the scorers for UNCG, placing 35th thanks to a 26:02.5 effort. It was his second straight SoCon Championship race as a scorer for the Spartans, after placing 22nd in 2025.
Freshman Jonathan Marsden nearly booked a top-50 spot in his conference debut, clocking in at 26:39.3 to place 51st. Pierson Guerrant (27:16.2) would take 62nd, while Marsden's fellow debutants Gunnar Douglass (27:36.9) and Sebastian Frickel (27:42.5) placed back to back in 70th and 71st, respectively.
Furman once again took home the team and individual titles, the Paladin men finishing with 15 points. UNCG notched 92 points to edge out Western Carolina (100) for the runner-up spot, while newcomer Tennessee Tech (109) and Chattanooga (113) rounded out the top five teams.
UNCG's men will compete in the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional, held in Spartanburg, South Carolina, at the Roger Milliken Center on Friday, Nov. 13.
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