Vols Fifth, Lady Vols Ninth at SEC Cross Country Meet

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Tennessee cross country teams from Knoxville, Tenn., came home from the SEC Championships on Friday, Oct. 30, with two top-10 team finishes and four All-SEC honors after racing at the Gans Creek course.

The No. 18 Volunteer men scored 148 points to place fifth in a 14-team field over 8,000 meters. Alabama defended its team title with 37 points, ahead of Arkansas at 76, Florida at 82 and host Missouri at 145. Florida runner Kelvin Cheruiyot repeated as individual champion in 22:03.1.

Sophomore Nelson Mapi Setek led Tennessee in sixth place at 22:29.4, good for First Team All-SEC. Junior Zouhair Redouane was ninth in 22:33.9 and made the second team. Both ran personal bests. Ty Steorts, Ethan Edgeworth and Oliver MacDonald filled out the scoring five.

The Lady Vols took ninth of 16 teams with 232 points in the 6,000-meter race. Sophomore Mary Nyaboke Ogwoka was ninth overall in 19:08.7 and repeated as a second-team all-conference pick, and freshman Faith Chepchumba placed 24th in 19:50.9 to make the SEC All-Freshman Team. Summer Schuster, Jaci Sievers and Tula Fawbush completed the scoring group.

Arkansas, ranked seventh nationally, was the men’s runner-up and was in second place for nearly the whole race, slipping to third only at the 7K split. Alabama put its entire top five inside the first 15 spots, led by a run of second, third and fourth place from Dismus Lokira, Rogers Minatum and Dennis Kipruto.

Tennessee will now wait two weeks for its next race. The regional meet in Tallahassee, Fla., set for Friday, Nov. 13, decides which teams and runners move on to the national championships.

Filed under: Knoxville TN Sports News