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Keysville native Jefferson Duffey was one of several Hampden-Sydney College cross country runners to place in the Top 20 at the Golden Acorn Invitational. Overall, Hampden-Sydney as a team came in second at the event hosted by Mary Baldwin University last Friday, Oct. 6 in Fishersville. 

Now as we mentioned, Keysville resident Duffey finished 19th, with a time of 26:30:3. The 2023 graduate of Randolph-Henry High was All-District and team Runner of the Year as a high school senior. During his time there, Duffey helped the Statesmen win multiple James River District Championships. He also played football and soccer at Randolph-Henry.

His teammate, Hampden-Sydney junior Kade Minton led the Tigers with his 6K time of 21:31.4 to place third among 27 runners. Eastern Mennonite University won the race with 29 points, while EMU’s Bellamy Immanuel was the individual winner with a time of 20:49.3. The Tigers also posted 29 points with their top five runners, but were edged 3-2 in the tie-breaker.

Minton was followed by several teammates, including freshman Jackson Herndon (22:17.0, 4th), senior Carter Burcham (22:19.3, 5th), sophomore Winston Ransone (23:04.1, 6th), freshmen Haden VonCanon (23:41.8, 11th), Dylan Evans (24:15.3, 14th) and Kam Maldonado (26:15.6, 18th). 

Sophomore Tommy Bennett (26:44.7, 21st), freshman Davis Mills (27:03.0, 23rd), along with juniors Dan Ludovico (28:45.5, 25th) and Zach Eason (29:18.5, 26th) also placed in the Top 30. It was the first time running a 6K at the collegiate level for each of the Garnet & Grey team members.

H-SC will race again at the Roanoke Invitational, a traditional 8K cross country race, to be hosted by Roanoke College on Friday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. at Green Hill Park in Salem.