Sept. 5, 2009
Men's Results | Women's Results
Troy, Ala. - The Auburn cross country teams opened their 2009 campaign with a sweep of the men's and women's titles at the Troy Trojan Invitational this morning. The Tigers also earned individual titles as juniors Holly Knight and Ben Cheruiyot crossed the finish line first in their respective divisions, propelling the Tigers to the team victory. The women scored 19 points, 37 points ahead of second-place Troy, while the men finished 20 points ahead of the Trojans in the win.
The women earned five top-seven finishes, with Knight crossing the line first in a time of 10:55.46. Newcomer Steph Barnes finished a mere two seconds behind Knight in her first race as a Tiger, while senior Laurel Pritchard picked up where she left off last season with another solid performance with a time of 11:26.09, taking third.
Also participating for Auburn were Allison Smith, who took sixth place (11:56.13), Cathryn Albright in seventh (11:57.28), and freshman Grace Pritchard rounding out the participants with a time of 12:56.51 to take 17th in her first collegiate race.
"Overall, it was a great start for both teams," said a victorious first-year head coach Mark Carroll "The women did a great job, finishing five runners in the top-seven. Holly dominated the race and just beat out Steph (Barnes) at the end. I was really pleased with the performance of our top-five runners on the women's side.
For the men Auburn took the top-three collegiate finishes, as Cheruiyot turned in a time of 15:24.29 in what was his first cross country race since capturing the 2007 NJCAA cross country title while at Rend Lake Community College. Junior Jean-Pierre Weerts placed second with a time of 15:35.75, while senior Scott Novack took third with a time of 15:52.88. Sophomore Jeff Sanders took sixth with a time of 16:20.37, and Charles Mitchell rounded out the scorers for the Tigers with a time of 18:54.67 to finish 24th.
"The men, finishing with the top-three runners is a huge plus," said Carroll. "We had to hold back Felix Kibioiywo, but the rest of the guys really stepped up to help us catch the victory. This was a great meet to knock cob-webs off and get into running shape for the rest of the season."
The Tigers will have a week off before returning to action at the 21st Annual Crimson Class Cross Country Invitational in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 18. The women are slated to run a 5k race beginning at 5 p.m., while the men will follow with an 8k race at 5:30 p.m.