The University of Alabama hosted the Crimson Classic on Saturday. Eighteen teams competed in the Classic. The men’s team won, bringing home another Crimson Classic trophy. The men scored 57 points, easily defeating the second-place team, Mississippi (78).

“It always feels good to win at home,” men’s head coach Joe Walker said.

Unfortunately, the women’s team did not take home first place. After a close race, the Tide fell short of first place Texas A&M by four points. The Tide is currently ranked sixth in its region, and A&M is ranked 6th in its region.

“We knew they would be a tough competitor,” women’s head coach Randy Hasenbank said.

However, several runners for the Tide competed well. Andrea Torske finished with a time of 17:28.20, and Leigh Gilmore finished with a time of 17:39.10.

“I feel pretty good about today’s race,” Torske said. “I think I ran better today than I did last year.”

Hassenbank said, “Once we get Cealsey back on her feet, we are going to have a real solid lineup up front.”

Torske’s and Gilmore’s performances were not the only good ones for the Tide.

For the men, Carison Kemei helped defend the Tide’s home field by finishing with a time of 24:04.30. The Crimson Classic was Kemei’s first race with the Tide after transferring from junior college. He finished fourth behind Barnabas Kirui, a two-time Southeastern Conference champion.

“It is good to see Carison in his first race for Alabama competing with one of the best runners in the nation,” Walker said.

Both the men’s and women’s team will be competing in the Notre Dame Invitational.

“This week’s race is a warm up for next week’s race,” Hasenbank said.

Both the men and women’s coaches felt they had specific areas their team needed to work on.

“At this point in the season our fitness is already there,” Hassenbank said. “We are going to work on our speed.”

Walker said, “We are going to work on coming together as a team and seeing more progression each week.”