Sept. 7, 2007
AUBURN - The Auburn men's cross country team finished in first place and the women tied for second and both teams had the individual champion as the Tigers opened their 2007 seasons at the UTC Invitational hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The men's team scored 49 points to finish 20 points ahead of Jacksonville State, while Alabama (77 points) and Georgia Tech (81) finished third and fourth, respectively. The women finished with 55 points, tying with host Chattanooga and just seven points behind Georgia Tech.
In the men's 5K race, sophomore Felix Kiboiywo cruised to victory, finishing in 15:06, ten seconds ahead of runner-up Andrew Kirwa of Alabama. Freshman Hollie Knight was just as impressive in the women's 2-mile race, clocking a time of 11:04, which was eight seconds ahead of Nisha Kurian of Georgia Tech. Her time was also a full 18 seconds better than the time posted by former Auburn All-American Angela Homan at the same course four years ago.
"We started out with a bang," said head coach Peter Watson. "Hollie ran away with the women's race. She was gone from the gun, and Felix was just as impressive in the men's race."
Auburn's winners were not the only ones to post impressive times. The men had five of the top 17 finishers and the women had four of the top 12.
Sophomore Simon Nyang was the No. 2 runner for Auburn, placing eighth overall in 15:32. Sophomore Scott Novack was not far behind, placing 11th in 15:44, just one second and one spot ahead of senior teammate Patrick Philbin. Freshman Joby Peake was the final point-scorer for the men's team, placing 17th in 15:58.
In the women's race, sophomore Laurel Pritchard was seventh overall with a time of 11:30 and freshman Amber Riley placed 10th in 11:38. Sophomore Sabrina Fischer was 12th in 11:44, followed by freshman Cathryn Albright, who finished 30th in 12:31.
"I'm very pleased with our team effort," said Watson. "The most impressive thing was our top six guys all ran faster than our top time from last year, and the top four or five girls were faster than our top finisher last year. The men easily won the team title, and the women were right there with the teams that finished fifth and sixth in the region last year, so that shows what giant steps we've made. We have a lot of talent to work with this year."
Also competing for the men's team were sophomore Mark Fleming, who finished in 30th place with a time of 16:20, and junior Chase Oliver, who was 37th in 16:44. The women's race also included freshman Allison Smith, who was 37th in 12:44, and sophomore Katelyn Simpson, who was 42nd in 13:03.
The squads will return to action when both teams compete at the Bulldog Invitational hosted by the University of Georgia on Sept. 22. The women's 5k race will start at 8 a.m. ET, with the men's 8k race scheduled to follow at 8:30 a.m.