UA Men Highlight Gans Creek Classic Behind Fourth-Place Team Finish

Friday, September 26

Columbia, Mo. / Gans Creek Cross Country Course

Alabama

Gans Creek Classic

UA Men Highlight Gans Creek Classic Behind Fourth-Place Team Finish

9/26/2025 1:01:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country

Final Results (Web)

Two runners placed in the top 10 of the men’s 8k race, while an additional pair clocked top-20 times across the women’s 6k course

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 11 Alabama men's cross country team highlighted the morning of racing with a fourth-place team finish at the Gans Creek Classic, defeating 14 nationally-ranked teams in the process. For the second-straight meet, UA duo Dismus Lokira (22:44.1 | fourth) and Dennis Kipruto (22:51.1 | 10^th) clocked top-10 placements to lead the Crimson Tide across the 8k course.

On the women's side, Caren Kiplagat finished as the fastest UA runner for the second consecutive meet, recording a 16^th-place finish of 19:40.4. Teammate Cynthia Jemutai made her collegiate debut (19:44.9 | 19^th) Friday morning, also finishing in the top 20 of the 6k race. The No. 6 Alabama women's team ultimately finished 19^th overall.

UA Men 8k Rundown

Led by Lokira and Kipruto at the front, Nelson Pariken (23:16.8 | 40^th), Ezekiel Pitireng (23:27.0 | 57^th) and Carson Burian (23:39.2 | 83^rd) rounded out the scoring-five finishes for UA
Alabama knocked off 14 nationally-ranked programs en route to its fourth-place team finish (193 points), behind only No. 13 Colorado (126 points | third), No. 6 Virginia (107 points, second) and meet winner No. 1 Iowa State (47 points)

UA Women 6k Rundown

Lilly Walters (20:43.1 | 80^th), Leah Kleekamp (21:33.8 | 171^st) and Meriel Rowland (22:15.9 | 214^th) clocked scoring times for UA, following Kiplagat and Jemutai
Alabama finished 19^th in the team standings (476 points), ahead of Southeastern Conference foes Ole Miss (20^th, 507 points), Vanderbilt (24^th, 531 points) and Oklahoma (29^th, 717 points)

Head Coach Dan Waters Said

"There was some tough racing this morning but I'm proud of how hard our team battled. We know there are things we have to clean up and address, but coming away with fourth, in the men's race, and knocking off close to 15 ranked teams is a very strong statement. We'll take the lessons learned from today and keep moving forward as we start to approach the postseason."

Up Next

Alabama will take two weeks off before hosting the Crimson Classic on Friday, Oct. 17, at Harry Pritchett Running Park
The men's 8k race will start at 8:30 a.m. CT with the women's 6k getting underway at 9:20 a.m.