Adriaan Wildschutt and Glenrose Xaba were the lead performers of the SA team at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Florida on Saturday.
Wildschutt achieved the best ever result by a South African in the senior men's race, completing the 10km contest in 13th place in 29:32. His achievement improved on the 15-place performances by Shadrack Hoff, who was 15th in the senior men's race in Stellenbosch in 1996, and Stephen Mokoka, who was 15th in Punta Umbria in 2011.
Wildschutt, who is based in the United States, led the SA men's squad to ninth position in the men's team competition.
"I would have loved a top 10, but as we all know, it's really tough out here," Wildschutt said. "I'm really excited for the new year. I'm probably going to take it down for a week, travel back to South Africa, get my visa sorted and then probably do a camp somewhere in South Africa. I have a couple of races coming up, but for now I'll just be recovering and then looking forward to the rest of the season."
In the senior women's 10km race, Xaba took 34th position in 34:51. Achieving the same result as the men's squad, the SA women finished ninth in the team competition.
"I'm very happy about my position. I did my best but the course was very tough," Xaba said. "I'm just excited that we did very well and I finished the course with my teammates."
Earlier in the programme, the team ended sixth in the senior mixed 4x2km relay. The quartet of Luan Munnik, Karabo More, Christopher Swart and Carina Viljoen, started well and were in a podium position over the first two legs. Though they lost touch in the second half of the contest, they held on to complete the 8km relay race in 23:04.
In the U20 women's 6km race, Lara Stander was the best of the South Africans, ending 27th in 21:15 and leading the team to ninth place. Benkosi Maqwara was the top finisher in the junior men's 8km event, taking 43rd spot in 26:20, with the national team taking 10th spot.