Men's Cross Country Qualifies for NCAA Championships
11/17/2002 12:00:00 AM
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The No. 25 ranked (Mondo) University of Alabama men’s cross country team made another step towards claiming its first national championship as the Tide claimed second place at the NCAA South Region Cross Country Championship on Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Alabama was once again led by All-American David Kimani who posted a time of 32:09.91, only .02 seconds faster than teammate and second place finisher Peter Kiprono who challenged Kimani with a time of 32:09.93.
Tyler Stanfield (33:04.40) posted a 17th place finish, followed by Todd Fayant (33:24.01) at 27th and Peter Etoot (33:30.35) at 32nd to close out the scoring for the Tide. Alabama posted 79 points to championship winner Tennessee’s 51.
“I was very pleased with Kimani and Kiprono who got through the competition fairly relaxed and will be ready to go at Nationals next Monday,” said Alabama cross country coach Joe Walker. “Ty Stanfield did a good job for us finishing strongly; as we had some difficulty back at the four and five spots. We just couldn't put it together at the back and Tennessee really ran the race of their lives. I give them credit for coming up big at home.”
The South Region Championship for Kimani was the third consecutive he has won at Alabama and the fourth in his career (he won the championship his freshman year at the University of South Alabama).
Kimani and the Tide will now travel to Terre Haute, Indiana to compete in the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships to be held on November 25 on the campus of Indiana State University.
