Nov. 24, 2008
Women's Individual Results | Men's Individual Results | Men's Team Results
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A fifth-place team finish and four All-Americans is what Auburn will take home from the Cross Country Championships. The men's team, ranked 12th nationally, finished fifth and had three runners finish among the top 30. Holly Knight, the only female runner from Auburn to qualify for the national race, placed 11th to garner All-American accolades. The men's 10K and the women's 6K were run on the LaVernGibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
"We're very excited," head coach Peter Watson said. "Our top-three runners were very unselfish. They obviously wanted to finish in the top 10, but they ran an unselfish race and finished for the team. Girma Mecheso and Elkanah Kibet moved up throughout the pack and did a fantastic job. Jean-Pierre Weerts and Scott Novack really helped us out. Our guys executed the game plan 100% and it was a great team run.
"Coming away with four All-Americans, we couldn't have asked for more," Watson continued. "For the guys, we felt like we finished where we should have. Today was fantastic."
The men, making their first trip to the NCAA Championships as a team since 1985, tied the program's highest finish at the national race. In 1979, the Tiger men also captured fifth-place honors. Mecheso placed 16th to record the highest finish by an Auburn runner since Brian Abshire took 15th in 1984.
Mecheso proved that he was one of the top-three freshmen in the country with a 16th-place showing in a time of 29:53.80. True to this season's previous finishes, counterparts Kibet and Felix Kiboiywo were not far behind. Six seconds back from Mecheso was Kibet running a 29:59.50 for a 23rd-place finish. Coming across the line 28th was Kibioywo in 30:04.70. Finishing among the top 40 gave Auburn's tremendous trio All-American honors.
Auburn's four other runners were key to the team finish with junior Jean-Pierre Weerts finishing 119th (31:03.50), senior Scott Novack 139th (31:10.60), freshman Julian Matthews 175th (31:29.50) and sophomore Joby Peake at 233rd (32:25.30).
Oregon's Galen Rupp won the men's race in 29:03.20 and the Ducks had two other runners finish among the top 10 en route to the team title. Iona finished second and had the race's runner-up and fifth-place finishers. Stanford was third, followed by Wisconsin at fourth.
Knight clocked a 20:12.70 to finish 11th. Already an All-American on the outdoor track, Knight is now a two-time All-American for the Tigers and is just a sophomore. Her 11th-place finish is the second highest ever for an Auburn female cross country runner. In 2004, Angela Homan finished ninth at the NCAA Championships.
"Holly was fantastic placing 11th," Watson said. "She hung on and sat right there with the pack. She was impressive as a sophomore running in her first NCAA Championships."
Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego was the women's champ in 19:28.1. Washington was the women's team champion, followed by Pac-10 rival Oregon. Florida State was third, followed by West Virginia at fourth and Princeton at fifth.