CULLOWHEE — On a beautiful fall morning, the Appalachian men's cross country team finished first at the Southern Conference Championships, notching its third title in three years, and 11th in program history.

The Mountaineers won the championship with 27 points, while Chattanooga finished second with 56 points.
Brian Deal led the way for the Mountaineers by placing first overall in the meet with a time of 25:07. He also earned the SoCon Runner of the Year award. Deal is just the third runner in school history to win an individual championship and the first since Phil Mitchell in 2006.

Not far behind was the rest of the Appalachian team, taking the fifth through 11th spots. Asmeron Desta placed fifth, with Mark Maddox, Alec Meyer, Ryan O'Keefe, Blair Teal, Phil Mitchell and Josh Houser finishing in the next six spots.

Mountaineers coach Mike Curcio was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career, the last being in 2005.

Appalachian State competes in the NCAA Southeast Regionals in Louisville, Ky. on Nov. 10.

Women’s cross country
CULLOWHEE — Appalachian State finished fourth place at the SoCon Championships. It was a close race between the Mountaineers and Furman, who finished third. Appalachian state finished with 86 points, three more than Furman’s 83.

Jen Povick led the way for Appalachian, finishing third overall with a time of 17:59. Other contributors for the Mountaineers were Hannah Parks who placed 15th, Anna Baker, (19th), Kala Robertson (24th) and Ashley Norris (25th).

Chattanooga won the meet, while Davidson finished.

Volleyball
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Appalachian State senior Dianna Thomas picked up 19 kills, with just one error, and led the Mountaineers to a 3-1 victory over first-place College of Charleston Saturday.

The Mountaineers fell 29-31 in the first game, but rallied to win the next three 30-20, 30-28 and 30-27. Appalachian State won its ninth straight, its longest since 2005.

Thomas leaped to the front of the Appalachian State record book by banging out a career-record for kills with 1,397. Three other players also recorded double-digit kills for the Mountaineers. Appalachian State (15-12, 11-3 SoCon) jumped out to a 6-0 lead with Thomas serving, and the team led for a majority of the game before College of Charleston (18-8, 12-2) rallied with six points to take a 26-24 lead. The Mountaineers fought off three straight game points to tie the game at 29 points apiece, but the Cougars scored the final two points of the contest for the win. Thomas had the first of her three aces in the first game. The team finished with four.

Following a 12-12 tie, Appalachian State took over the second game with an 18-8 run to end the game and square the match at 1-1. Carla Durham posted nine of her team-leading 22 kills in the second game, and the Mountaineers collected 10 blocks. The Mountaineers totaled 18 blocks in the match.

Facing a 28-26 deficit in the third game, Thomas posted her fifth kill of the game and then combined with Durham on a block to tie the game at 28. Durham finished off the set with consecutive kills for the 30-28 win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.

The Cougars would not go quietly and took a 15-11 lead in the deciding fourth game. The teams would tie nine more times before Brittany Zahn connected on her 20th kill of the game before a pair of blocks sealed the result for Appalachian.

The win is the ninth straight for ASU, tying the longest streak since the 2005 season. Lorelle Rau completed a triple-double, with 11 kills, 56 assists, and 10 digs. Rau also picked up a pair of blocks and an ace. Zahn led the team with 23 digs, while Heather Kale accounted for 21 of the team’s 76 in the match.

Women’s soccer
Appalachian State closed its home schedule with a 1-0 loss to Wofford Sunday.

The Mountaineers, winless in their last two matches, fall to 9-5-3 overall, 3-5-1 in the SoCon and need a win Thursday against The Citadel to clinch a SoCon Tournament berth.

Wofford improves to 7-9-2 (3-5-1) and is still in the hunt for a SoCon tournament berth.

Wofford’s Kendra Merchant scored the games only goal 16 minutes into the match. Appalachian State took five shots in the first half, but could not get any to go into the net.

Prior to Sunday’s match, Appalachian honored four seniors — Lindsay Moore, Jaclyn Hoffman, Lindsey Talley and Courtney O’Brien — for their contributions to the program.

Men's Soccer
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. — Appalachian State closed SoCon play by dropping a 1-0 result to the College of Charleston. Appalachian (6-7-3, 2-4-1) saw its opportunity for a home match in the SoCon tournament fall by the wayside.

“I’m pleased with out effort tonight” said head coach Paul Stahlschmidt. “Our players played with every ounce of energy on the field tonight. It’s always tough to give away a penalty, but we are just going to keep grinding and the results will come.”

In the 64th minute, the Mountaineers committed a foul inside the 18-yard box to give the Cougars a penalty kick. Charleston’s Casey Gold stepped to the spot and converted the chance from 12-yards to give the College of Charleston (10-4-1, 4-1-0) a 1-0 lead.

Appalachian State host No. 4 ranked Virginia Tech Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the ASU Soccer Stadium.