No. 3 Alabama Takes Second at Pre-National Invitational
10/17/2009 12:00:00 AM
Oct. 17, 2009
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The No. 3 Alabama men's cross country team previewed the 2009 NCAA Championship course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center on LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course on Saturday. Alabama fell to the No. 7 Men of Oregon after defeating the Ducks two weeks ago in Eugene.
Alabama, however, succeeded in taking down No. 2 Northern Arizona. The Crimson Tide snuck past the second-ranked team in the nation by one point in the team scoring.
"Well, obviously we weren't pleased with the way we ran as a whole," cross country coach Joe Walker said. "We felt like Oregon came with something to prove after looking a little flat at their home meet. Even though we looked a little flat today ourselves, we still looked like one of the top five teams in the country which is a positive."
The Tide was paced by Moses Kiptoo turning in a time of 24:06.0 to finish 13th over the 8,000 meter course. The top five Alabama finishers were separated by just 32 seconds.
Kiptoo was followed by Julius Bor (15th) and Fred Samoei (17th) who crossed the line in 24:09.7 and 24:13.2, respectively. Tyson David (26th, 24:22.1) and Andrew Kirwa (43rd, 24:38.3) rounded out the top five finishers for the Tide.
Emmanuel Bor (96th) and Nathan Corder (193rd) finished with times of 25:07.2 and 26:11.7, respectively.
In the team standings, No. 7 Oregon claimed the Blue Race title with 79 points. No. 3 Alabama followed in second with 114 points besting No. 2 Northern Arizona who tallied 115 points. No. 9 William & Mary (128) and No. 14 Washington (183) rounded out the top five teams.
Luke Puskedra of Oregon won the individual title with a time of 23:40.2.
Alabama will take a week off in preparation for the SEC Championships being held in Oxford, Miss. on Oct. 31. The Tide return to the SEC meet as defending champions.
