Men's Cross Country Wins Fourth Straight South Region Title
11/13/2010 12:00:00 AM
Nov. 13, 2010
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
HOOVER, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's cross country team dominated the field at the NCAA South Region Championships en route to its fourth straight South Region title and a guaranteed berth in the NCAA Championship field.
The Crimson Tide had its five scorers all finish in the top 13 of the field with Carison Kemei and Julius Bor finishing second and third, respectively, on the 10-kilometer course at Hoover's Veterans Park. As a team, the Tide had 30 points to win the event by 25 points with all five scorers earning All-Region honors.
"It was a good feeling to see the team really respond to adversity," elated head coach Joe Walker said after what has been a trying season for the team. "We knew with the way this fall has gone, that it would be easy for our guys to say `this is not our year,' but they really stayed confident and it has been very impressive. Today's result showed that this team is still ready to compete. They really came with a mindset of `we can win it,' and that was encouraging to see."
Kemei crossed first for the Tide in second place with a time of 30:05.85, just two seconds off the first-place pace set by Florida State's Ciaran O'Lionaird.
"After taking second in the conference, we worked on what we needed to do to win today," Kemei said. "I was happy with my performance but my focus was on the team and I knew that I needed to stay up front to help our team and keep the spirits high."
Bor finished in 30:06.96, just a second behind Kemei as the two battled in the front of the pack to lead the Tide.
"We wanted to show that we are not done yet as a team," Bor said. "It was a good race for me. I wanted to win but I'm happy that my teammate finished ahead of me and I finished third to help the team."
Joel Rop continued his strong season with a fifth-place finish and a time of 30:13.23 while veteran Moses Kiptoo was ninth in 30:23.70. Senior Andrew Kirwa picked up his fourth All-South honor in 13th place with a 30:37.96 finish.
In addition to being the fourth straight region title, it is the eighth all-time for the Tide. Head coach Joe Walker also collected his sixth South Region Coach of the Year honor.
The Tide will now turn its sights to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind., where it will look to improve on last year's program best third-place finish.
NCAA SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS Hoover, Ala. - Veterans Park
Alabama Results Team - 1st of 18
Individual Results 2. Carison Kemei - 30:05.80 3. Julius Bor - 30:06.96 5. Joel Rop - 30:13.23 9. Moses Kiptoo - 30:23.70 13. Andrew Kirwa - 30:37.96 82. Nathan Corder - 32:55.33 137. Evan Kendrick - 35:23.78
