2007 Men's Cross Country Preview
8/17/2007 12:00:00 AM
TUSCALOOSA ??The University of Alabama men’s cross country team returns ten athletes from a 2006 team that was on the brink of cracking the top ten in the national polls throughout most of the year. This season cross country coach Joe Walker wants to not only reach the top ten, but finish there at season’s end.
“I feel really good about our team headed into the fall, we have the talent at the top to compete with anyone in the country,” Walker said. “I am very confident in our top five or six guys.”
The Crimson Tide will return three All-Southeastern Conference and All- South Regional performers from the 2006 season in junior Abraham Kutingala, junior Augustus Maiyo and sophomore Emmanuel Bor.
In addition the Tide will return junior Titus Koeh who was an All-SEC and All-South Regional performer in the 2005 season. Koeh is healthy again and has ran some big meets for the Tide in previous seasons.
“We have four guys who can compete for All-American honors, in Bor, Koeh, Kutingala and Maiyo,” Walker added. “I expect a lot of leadership from Kutingala and Maiyo as they move into their junior seasons, the expectations are higher now.”
The Tide will also welcome a couple of freshman that Walker feels will contribute immediately, Andrew Kirwa, from Eldoret, Kenya and Joey Purpura from Columbus, Ohio.
“Kirwa needs to make a quick transition to running in the SEC and Purpura should give us a solid 10k specialist,” Walker said.
The rest of the team includes seniors Paul Guevara and Matt Staggs; junior Brandon Stephens; sophomores GJ Hudgens, Cameron Sherill, Alex Seiver and Ryan Sanders; and freshman David May.
The Crimson Tide opens the 2007 season on September 7 at the University of Tennessee- Chattanooga. The annual Crimson Classic will be the following week on September 14 at the Harry Prichett Cross Country Course.
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