Men's Cross Country Claims Pre-NCAA Title
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
Oct. 18, 2008
Terre Haute, Ind. - The No. 6 Alabama men's cross country team competed at the Pre-NCAA Championships today. The Tide proved to be one of the nation's elite teams by finishing first in a strong field including 10 top 30 ranked teams.
The Crimson Tide was led by junior Tyson David who also claimed the individual title covering the 8,000 meter course in 23:30.10.
David was followed closely by All-American senior Augustus Maiyo (23:39.60) and junior Emmanuel Bor (23:48.40) in fifth and ninth place, respectively. Senior Abraham Kutingala (24:12.00) finished in 31st and sophomore Andrew Kirwa (24:24.00) rounded out the top five for the team in 43rd place. Freshman Zac Edwards also finished the race in 148th with a time of 25:16.20. There were 276 athletes in today's race.
"Today's race went really well," cross country coach Joe Walker said. "We ran solid and the guys had an unbelievable day. Tyson won the individual title and really looked good. He just took over the race, established a gap and held on for the win. This will be good preparation for later on down the road and we'll continue to get better along the way."
Ten ranked teams competed in today's blue division race with No. 6 Alabama claiming first place with 89 points. No. 16 Northern Arizona (113) and No. 9 Michigan (146) finished second and third, respectively. No. 13 Florida State (212) and No. 14 Minnesota (234) rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. There were 41 teams in the race.
The Crimson Tide will take a week off before beginning the championship portion of the season. The squad will compete at the SEC Championships on Nov. 3 in Starkville, Miss. in hopes of bringing home the first place trophy. Arkansas has won 17 straight titles, every title since joining the conference, but Alabama is the favorite going into the meet.
