WILMINGTON, N.C. – Sophomore Elizabeth Dokulil and senior Griffin Wald won the women's and men's 5K races, respectively, as both UNCW cross country teams captured team titles Saturday at the Wilmington Beach Blast.

"The first thing I want to do is thank everybody who made this event possible, from the city of Wilmington and the municipal golf course to all those who worked tirelessly behind the scenes," said UNCW head coach Jeff Klaves. "It's been an honor to be part of this process. I want to thank those who put in tremendous effort behind the scenes, Tom Clifford with Without Limits, Colin and Michelle Hackman with It's Go Time and David Donovan with the Municipal Golf Course. To make this a community-wide event, from middle school races all the way up to the college races, is absolutely tremendous."

"Another strong performance from Griffin on the men's side. I'm excited to see him string together some great performances early in the season, especially as we build fitness under an early-season training load. On the women's side, Elizabeth not only had a great race for herself, but also put the team in position for a great performance. We're a very young team, with a lot of underclassmen adjusting to the expectations of college training, so to see them put together a performance like that on our home course is exactly what we want to see. We're closing the gap in our spread and trending in the right direction. Let's go, Hawks!"

The women's team dominated the race, with all seven runners placing in the top seven. Dokulil led the way with a winning time of 18:56.89, nearly a minute faster than her previous collegiate best set at the 2025 UNCW Beach Blast. Freshman Ava Lanzy finished second in her collegiate debut with a time of 19:27.10, followed by Claire Carmichael in third at 19:39.17.

Olivia Priddy and Kate Slobodnyak also recorded collegiate-best times, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Jalyn DeLeon placed sixth, while Demi Nicholas finished seventh to complete UNCW's top seven sweep.

On the men's side, Wald captured his second Wilmington Beach Blast title with a time of 15:55.33. Freshman Chase Liming placed third in his collegiate debut at 16:21.75, while Cooper Kovach finished fourth with a collegiate-best time of 16:31.94.

FULL RESULTS
Women's 5K

1. Elizabeth Dokulil – 18:56.89*
2. Ava Lanzy – 19:27.10
3. Claire Carmichael – 19:39.17
4. Olivia Priddy – 19:52.11*
5. Kate Slobodnyak – 19:55.32*
6. Jalyn DeLeon – 19:57.17
7. Demi Nicholas – 20:03.67

*Collegiate Best
Men's 5K

1. Griffin Wald – 15:55.33
2. Chase Liming – 16:21.75
3. Cooper Kovach – 16:31.94*
4. Nick Potter – 16:33.10
5. Josh Ashley – 17:08.89
6. Daniel Fiore – 17:13.64

*Collegiate Best