Sept. 27, 2008
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Elkanah Kibet captured his second individual title and Felix Kibioywo placed seventh to pace the No. 25 Auburn men's cross country team to a fifth-place finish at the 8K Roy Griak Invitational Saturday in Falcon Heights, Minn.
Adams State won the team title with 75 points and No. 29 Iowa State (89) was the runner-up. No. 30 Brigham Young (91) and ninth-ranked Minnesota (107), took third and fourth, respectively. There were 229 runners in the race from 25 Division I schools.
"Elkanah looked great today," head coach Peter Watson said. "Felix ran well, as he is just coming into form, and Scott Novack ran a very smart race and helped out. Our freshmen will learn from today. We now need to do some work at the Pre National meet on Oct. 18 to get some large points."
Kibet cruised to his second title in as many races, crossing the finish line in 23:55.3. He finished 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Hassan Mead of Minnesota.
"It's great to win for Auburn," Kibet said. "I felt strong today."
For the junior college transfer, Kibet has raced in two events and won both. In his debut, the junior took top honors at the Powerade Invite and for his efforts was named SEC Athlete of the Week.
Running in his first race of the season, returning NCAA qualifier Kibioywo completed the course in 24:17.9 for a seventh-place finish.
Scott Novack and Girma Mecheso were also top-30 finishers for the Tigers. Novack placed 24th in a time of 25:00.0 and Mecheso was six seconds behind him for a 29th-place finish in 25:06.0.
Also running for Auburn were freshman Julian Matthews, placing 79th in 25:44.0 and sophomore Joby Peake was 101st with a time of 25:57.5. Freshman Jeff Sanders rounded out the Tiger finishers running the course in 27:09.8 to finish 171st.
Both the men's and women's teams will be back in action Oct. 4 at the Tiger Invitational at Indian Pines Golf Course in Auburn, Ala. The women's 5K race is set to take off at 9:30 a.m. with the men's 8K race to follow at 10:15 a.m.