Texas A&M
Alabama Crimson Classic
Aggie women win Crimson Classic, men place third
Sep 18, 2010 | Track and Field
Sept. 18, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - Texas A&M women's cross country team captured the team title at the 22nd Crimson Classic, defeating host Alabama by four points, 53-57, at the Harvey Pritchett Running Course on Saturday morning.
The Aggie men, ranked No. 3 in the South Central region, finished third behind Alabama, ranked fifth in the nation and No. 1 in the South region, and Mississippi while placing ahead of Auburn, who is ranked No. 7 in the South region.
Alabama totaled 57 points for the victory as Mississippi followed with 78. Texas A&M's 82 placed the Aggies ahead of Auburn's 95 and the 108 scored by Kennesaw State in fifth place. There were 18 teams that scored in the men's field and 19 in the women's field.
The Aggie women, No. 6 in the South Central Region, bettered a field that included two ranked teams from the South Region. Alabama ranked No. 5 in the South region while Auburn, who finished fourth with 122 points behind 105 for third-place Samford, ranked No. 7 in the South region. Tulane, No. 14 in the South Central region, finished fifth with 148 points.
For the second consecutive meet A&M was led by MacLean O'Donnell over the men's 8,000-meter race.
Devlin ran a strong race over the challenging course, recording a time of 17 minutes, 25.7 seconds to place third among a field of 140 runners. Auburn's Holly Knight won the women's race in 16:59.3 with MacKenzie Howe of Kennesaw State claiming runner-up in 17:11.3.
"We weren't sure what we would face coming to this meet, but I'm very proud of the effort we had as a team today," said Devlin, who covered the first mile in 5:34 and reached the second mile in 11:07. "The girls really stepped up, especially in competing on a new course for all of us.
"It was nice to have a chance to compete this week after our home meet was canceled last weekend. I'm happy to see the freshmen make the transition. They are doing better than I expected. They know what they are doing and handling it very well."
Meshack Koyiaki of Columbus State won the men's race in 23:44.4 with Mississippi's Barnabas Kirui (23:48.1) in second and Ben Cheruiyot of Auburn (23:55.0) placing third. Seven of the top 10 finishers were Kenyan runners representing SEC schools Alabama, Auburn and Mississippi.
O'Donnell placed 11th in a field of 147 runners, clocking a time of 25:10.1 on the rolling cross country course. O'Donnell finished ahead of a trio of Kenyans in Alabama's Julius Bor (25:11.4), Enock Kirui of Troy (25:12.7) and Kipchirchir Kiptoo of Mississippi (25:21.1).
"It was a fun race, but I wished I would have pushed it a little harder in the middle of the race," said O'Donnell, who reached the second mile in 9:48 with a set of five Aggies just nine seconds back. "There were a lot of good guys at the front end of the race, with a mix of international runners."
"Team-wise, we had a great team race as we stuck together for the first couple of miles. By the end of the race I knew they were starting to catch me. I was working pretty hard by the end of the race."
Joining Devlin with top 10 finishes in the women's race were Natosha Rogers and Itzel Cetina. Rogers ran 17:34.4 for seventh place while Cetina placed ninth with a time of 17:42.5.
Adding a pair of top 20 finishes for the Aggies were Amanda Jenkins (18:08.3) in 15th place and Gabby Salazar (18:17.7) in 19th.
Having the top five A&M scorers among the top 20 finishers was key in securing the team title for the Aggies as Alabama also placed five runners among the top 20.
Texas A&M held an edge with its first two finishers placing one position ahead of their Alabama counterpart, 3-4 and 7-8. The fourth and fifth scoring runners for each team had Alabama holding the one position edge at 14-15 and 18-19.
The deciding four-point difference was determined amid the third finisher for each squad with Cetina placing ninth to a 13th place position by Alabama's Kelsey Johnson, separated by 24 seconds.
Colbea Harris (18:33.5) led the next group of Aggie women in placing 29th as Kasey McNorton (18:42.7) finished 33rd. Sophie Blake (57th - 19:29.6) and Caitlin Gilmore (60th - 19:34.8) rounded out A&M's effort.
A pair of Aggie men finished among the top 20 with Jimmy Welin (25:27.6) and Nathan Parker (25:28.1) placing 16th and 17th. The next pair of A&M runners completed the Aggies team score as Ryan Miller (25:40.1) and Will Barry (25:47.6) finished 23rd and 24th.
Chad Brown (25:49.4) placed 24th while C.J. Brown (25:53.9) finished 30th as the sixth and seventh runners for Texas A&M. Just 37 seconds separated the top five Aggies, and there was only a 43-second gap among the first seven finishers for A&M.
Austin Geerts (26:09.7) and Dylan Williams (26:16.5) were paired up as they completed the course in 34th and 35th place. Jordan Chappell (27:25.8) placed 61st.
Crimson Classic Results
Harry Pritchett Running Course
September 18, 2010Teams
Women: 1. Texas A&M 53; 2. Alabama 57; 3. Samford 111; 4. Auburn 130; 5. Tulane 157; 6. Mississippi 185; 7. Southern Mississippi 187; 8. Nicholls State 188; 9. Kennesaw State 240; 10. Columbus State 264.Men: 1. Alabama 57; 2. Mississippi 78; 3. Texas A&M 82; 4. Auburn 95; 5. Kennesaw State 108; 6. Columbus State 135; 7. Mississippi Valley State 222; 8. Troy 250; 9. Samford 276; 10. Tulane 300.
Players Mentioned
