Tide Competes in Mud Bath at Belmont
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
Sept. 5, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama women's cross country team competed tonight amid a downpour of rain at the Belmont Opener at Vaughn's Creek Course in Nashville, Tenn. The race was delayed due to lightning but eventually got underway about 40 minutes after the scheduled start time.
"The girls competed really well and had no problem going right to the front," head coach Randy Hasenbank said. "They seemed like they were ready to compete at this level and weren't scared of the competition at all."
Though Alabama's top two runners stayed at home this weekend, the Tide managed a team finish of fourth tied with Samford, each tallying 98 points but still bettering last year's finish of fifth.
The top five finishers for the Crimson Tide were all freshmen and all placed in the top 40 among a tough field including two SEC programs, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Sara Vaughn led the way for the Tide finished in second place covering the 4000 meter course in 14:28.91.
Kelsey Johnson followed closely in sixth place with a time of 14:48.07. Andrea Torske (15:18.42) and Sarah Gilmore (15:41.24) finished 20th and 33rd, respectively. Leigh Gilmore (15:49.24) rounded out the Tide scoring crossing the line in 38th place.
"We had a few girls that were disappointed. Farrah didn't run as well as she would have liked and she trains really hard," Hasenbank said. "It was such a mud bath out there tonight, these were tough conditions."
In team scoring, Vanderbilt captured first place with 44 points, Tennessee (83) grabbed second, UAB (94) took third, while Samford and Alabama (98) tied for fourth, and host, Belmont (180), finished in seventh.
Vanderbilt's Rita Jorgensen took the home the individual title breaking the tape with time of 14:23.32.
The Crimson Tide will take a week off before hosting the 20th Annual Crimson Classic on Sept. 20 at the Harry Pritchett Course.
