Oct. 3, 2009
MADISON, Wis. - The Auburn cross country squads were in action this morning at the Wisconsin Badger Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin. The women placed ninth as a team, while the men came in 12th.
Fresh off her SEC Athlete of the Week award, junior Holly Knight took fifth overall in the race with a time of 17:18 in the 5K race and was the top SEC finisher.
Junior Stephanie Barnes was Auburn's second finisher after coming in second with a time of 17:50, while senior Laurel Pritchard clocked a time of 18:49 place 70th, just ahead of junior teammate Cathryn Albright (18:52).
Coming in 79th as Auburn's fifth finisher was junior Allison Smith with a time of 19:19, 16 seconds ahead of freshman Grace Pritchard who clocked a 19:35. The three teams Auburn defeated in the race were Texas A&M, Wisconsin, and Marquette.
The men were once again paced by junior Ben Cheruiyot in the 8k race with a time of 24:06 which was good enough to earn a seventh-place finish and a 4:50 mile pace. Cheruiyot was followed by senior John-Pierre Weerts who finished in 28th place with a time of 24:45.
Senior Scott Novack was the 58th-place collegiate finisher with a time of 25:24, while sophomore Jeff Sanders marked a time of 26:53 to take 85th. Auburn's final two finishers were sophomore Charles Mitchell (88th, 29:30) and freshman Kasey Hayes (89th, 29:41).
The Tigers next return to action on Oct. 17 as the team travels to Terre Haute, Ind. for the NCAA Pre-Nationals hosted by Indiana State University.