Sept. 23, 2011
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Two Auburn runners finished in the top two places as the men's cross country team recorded its third-straight team win to start the season on Friday evening at the FSU Invitational.
Two short weeks ago the rookie duo was making its first cross country appearance for Auburn, but on Friday night freshmen Kane Grimster and Niklas Buhner were once again at the front of the pack.
Grimster crossed the finish line in 25:30.11 to pick up the win, while Buhner (25:35.19) followed up his home meet win with a second place finish at FSU. Grimster was fifth in his first meet in Auburn on Sept. 9.
Sophomore Samuel Mueller made it three Tigers in the top five when he finished the 8k Apalachee Regional Park course in 25:48.03. He was followed by senior captain Joby Peake (26:09.54) in 10th place before fellow senior Jeff Sanders (26:39.71) rounded out Auburn's scorers with a 20th place finish.
"It was a great day for us at the Seminole Invite," head coach Mark Carroll said. "It was a super win for the men's team to win the team title. The men's team is unbeaten so far and even with the competition level increasing each week, they are handling the challenges well. We are very excited about that."
On the men's side, Auburn's 38 points were good enough for first, followed by the host Seminoles in second with 56 points and Division II power Alabama-Huntsville (76 points) in third. The team win was a big one for Auburn as it finished ahead of two teams ranked in the top 10 in the USTFCCCA South Region poll in FSU (1st) and North Florida (6th). The Tigers were 14th last week.
The Auburn women also enjoyed another successful event. Leading the way was junior Alyssa Fisher, who received first place points after finishing second behind an unattached runner. The Huntsville native finished the 5k course in 17:45.37.
Teammate Elizabeth Briasco was once again in the top three, this time with a final time of 17:58.42. It marked her third-straight top three finish to start the season.
Fisher and Briasco paced the Tigers (61 points) and led the squad to a third place finish behind North Florida (40 points) and Florida State (50 points).
"The women's team finished third, so a very positive finish for the ladies as well," Carroll said. "They did a great job handling the increase in competition as well. We head to Notre Dame next week with everyone feeling great in a positive frame of mind."
Sophomore Erika Kolakowski (17th - 18:57.53), along with freshmen Molly Pezzulo (18th - 19:05.86) and Erin Fondren (22nd - 19:13.37) rounded out the scorers for the Auburn women.
Auburn's next action is on Friday in South Bend, Indiana, at the Notre Dame Invitational. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CT.