DAVIDSON, N.C. — Two Davidson student-athletes were recognized for their outstanding performances in October, as seniors
Lance Harden (men’s cross country) and
Kyri Bye-Nagel (women’s soccer) were selected as their sport’s respective Southern Conference Player of the Month by the conference office recently.
Harden drew the same honor for September and continued to perform in October. He placed 25th out of 334 finishers at the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic on Oct. 3, completing the 8K course in 24 minutes, 44 seconds to set a 16-second personal best and a new school record by 13 seconds. The performance led the Wildcats to their best-ever finish in a major invitational, 6th out of 38 teams.
Harden then finished fourth overall (second collegian) at the Blue Ridge Mountain Open hosted by Appalachian State on Oct. 16. His time for the soggy 8K course was 25:02, which led his team to a second-place team finish, only one point out of first. The effort earned him his second SoCon Runner of the Week award of the season.
The Apex, N.C. native concluded the month with a third-place finish at the SoCon Championships on Oct. 31. The effort led the ‘Cats to a program-best second-place finish as a team.
Harden and Wildcats will return to action on Nov. 14 when they compete in the NCAA Southeast Region Championships in Louisville, Ky.
Bye-Nagel was instrumental in leading the women’s soccer team to a 7-1-1 mark for the month, including a 5-0-1 mark in their last six regular season games, and a spot into the SoCon Tournament by scoring a team-best six goals and assisting on two others for 14 points. The senior netted two game winners for the month in wins over Furman (1-0) and Chattanooga (4-2).
In the contest at Chattanooga, Oct. 23, Bye-Nagel registered her second career hat trick, scoring the first Wildcat goal and then knotting things up at 2-all, before kicking in the go-ahead goal in the second half. For the month, she finished scoring five goals in Davidson's final four games.
Earlier this week she was named to the all-league first team for the third year in a row, becoming the fifth Wildcat in program history to garner first-team honors three times.
For the season, the striker ranks among the top-five in the SoCon in goals and points as she enters the tournament with team highs of eight goals, four assists and 20 points. The 20-point mark is the third season in a row she has hit that mark or more. Bye-Nagel is the only ‘Cat to have started all 20 games this year.
Riding a six-game unbeaten streak, Davidson (10-9-1, 7-3-1 SoCon) heads to Greensboro, N.C. for the league tournament this weekend as it will play UNC Greensboro tonight, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of the semifinals. College of Charleston, seeded second, will take on No. 3 seed Samford in the opening semifinal game at 5 p.m.