Complete Release women's results
Oct. 17, 2009
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The Auburn cross country teams were in action Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind. The men raced their way to a sixth place finish, while the women placed 23rd as a team in the event hosted by Indiana State University.
The men, running in the "blue" race, were paced by the duo of junior Ben Cheruiyot and senior All-American Felix Kiboiywo, who ran their way to top-15 finishes. Cheruiyot placed 10th with a time of 24:03.5, while Kiboiywo placed 14th with a time of 24:08.4.
A pair of seniors continued their solid performances on the year for the Tigers, as Jean-Pierre Weerts placed 29th with a time of 24:25. Scott Novack was Auburn's fourth finisher in the race, placing 54th after clocking a time of 24:43.8. Sophomore Jeff Sanders closed out Auburn's scorers by finishing 156th with a time of 25:51.4.
The squad faced tough competition in their section, as defending national champions Oregon won the race with 79 points. Fellow SEC member Alabama was second with 114 points, followed by Northern Arizona (115 points), William & Mary (128 points) and Washington (183 points) before Auburn with 263 points.
The women were once again led by junior Holly Knight, who placed 21st after she clocked a time of 21:32. Graduate student Steph Barnes was Auburn's second finisher after placing 44th with a time of 21:32. Laurel Pritchard ran her way to a 119th place finish after crossing the line with a time of 22:14.6. Auburn's final two finishers were Cathryn Albright (167th, 22:50.5) and Allison Smith (223rd, 23:43.6).
The women placed 23rd as a team with 574 points in the "blue" section race. Colorado won the section with 94 points, and were followed by Florida St. (135) and Oregon with 169 points. The other SEC team in the race was Vanderbilt, who placed 25th with 615 points, two spots behind the Tigers.
"We had a very good result today," said head coach Mark Carroll. "This was a huge improvement coming off of last
week's race, and to have nearly everyone healthy was definitely a huge positive for us. All-in-all, we are headed in the right direction entering our postseason races."
After a week off, the team will travel to the SEC Championships hosted by Ole Miss on Oct. 31.