Tide Led by Five Freshmen in Season Opener
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM
Sept. 5, 2008
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama men's cross country team competed at the 22nd Annual UTC Powerade Invitational today at the Moccasin Bend Race Course in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Even with the squad's top five runners at home, the Tide finished in second place with 66 points bettering last year's team finish of third.
The top five finishers for the Crimson Tide were all freshman and all placed in the top 25. Zac Edwards led the way for Alabama with a sixth place finish covering the 5000 meter course in 15:45.
Nathan Corder followed closely in 10th crossing the line in 16:04. Austin Duckworth and Stephen Payne finished 13th and 14th with times of 16:16 and 16:18, respectively. Chase Volinski closed out the scoring with a time of 16:51 and a 23rd place finish.
"I thought we competed hard and that was the main thing we wanted to emphasize today," cross country coach Joe Walker said. "We can't control outcome but we can control effort. Now we will just going to take it week by week and hopefully be where we need to be in the next few months."
In team scoring, only seven teams competed with Auburn taking first place with 18 points, Alabama placed second, Kennesaw State took third with 91 points, and the host, Tennessee-Chattanooga, placed fourth with 104 points.
Auburn took the top four places with junior Elkanah Kibet winning the individual title with a time of 14:49.
The Crimson Tide will take a week off before hosting the 20th Annual Crimson Classic on Sept. 20 at the Harry Pritchett Course.
