Both Alabama men’s and women’s cross country teams placed in the top three at the Crimson Classic meet Friday morning at Harry Pritchett Running Park.
The men’s 8,057-meter came first, and the Crimson Tide, ranked No. 8 in the country and first in the South Region, took a resounding first-place finish that marked its fourth top-four placement and second overall victory. It did so to the tune of 29 overall points, with each of the best five runners finishing in the top 15 and the best four in the top 10. Dennis Kipruto and Dismus Lokira respectively took first and second place; the next closest team was North Florida with 120.
In the women’s 5,868-meter, Alabama finished third with 101 points, behind Tulane at 85 and South Carolina at 30. The difficulty for the 13th-ranked Crimson Tide, which also holds the No. 2 spot in the South, continues to be its top-heaviness.
Cynthia Jemutai finished second, Caren Kiplagat finished third and Lilly Walters finished ninth, but Leah Kleekamp finished 43rd. The placements continued at a steeper decline from there.
“On the men’s side, to have two of our runners run faster than the initial course record speaks directly to the preparation and execution from both Dennis and Dismus,” head coach Dan Waters said. “On the women’s side, we had really good performances from Caren, Cynthia and Lilly. I was proud of the way they all ran their race.”
Men’s 8,057m:
- Dennis Kipruto, junior — first, 23:14.3
- Dismus Lokira, sophomore — second, 23:14.4
- Carson Burian, graduate student — sixth, 23:47.3
- Nelson Pariken, freshman — eighth, 23:57.6
- Ezekiel Pitireng, sophomore — 15th, 24:24.9
- Kai Connor, senior — 16th, 24:28.0
- Evan Trapp, sophomore — 33rd, 24:52.5
- Timothy Kibet, freshman — 38th, 24:56.5
- Evan Simpson, sophomore 77th, 25:36.3
Women’s 5,868m:
- Cynthia Jemutai, freshman — second, 18:55.4
- Caren Kiplagat, freshman — third, 19:07.7
- Lilly Walters, senior — ninth, 20:08.5
- Leah Kleekamp, senior — 43rd, 21:12.9
- Kaylie Crews, graduate student — 55th, 21:28.9
- Isabelle Sullivan, freshman — 56th, 21:30.1
- Autumn Headrick, junior — 69th, 21:45.3
- Kristen Aguilera, junior — 152nd, 23:58.7
- Avery Ruesch, sophomore — 154th, 24:00.4
- Meriel Rowland, sophomore — did not finish
“We’ll just prepare ourselves and get ourselves ready mentally, emotionally and spiritually to go have a good competition and do our very best,” Waters said.
The Crimson Tide will next compete at the SEC Championships on Oct. 31, making a return to the Tennessee Cross Country Course at Cherokee Farm where the team ran its first meet in August. The men will run at 9:08 a.m. CT, with the women following immediately after.
