Alabama men win Crimson Classic

TUSCALOOSA | The University of Alabama men’s cross country team cruised to an easy victory Friday on its home course in the Crimson Classic, led by sophomore Emmanuel Bor and junior Augustus Maiyo who finished first and second.

The Crimson Tide women’s team finished second.

Bor won his second consecutive Crimson Classic title. Maiyo posted his third top-3 finish in a row, a streak that includes a third-place finish a year ago and a win in 2005.

“I was really pleased with the guys’ effort today," Alabama coach Joe Walker said. “It’s really hot and humid out here. The storm kind of passed through and the humidity was up in the 80 percent range. That makes it tough."

Alabama won the meet with 23 points on the Harry Pritchett Cross Country Course, finishing 27 points in front of second-place Mississippi State and 60 ahead of LSU.

Bor turned in a 24:16.13 to win, followed by Maiyo’s 24:17.62. LSU’s Joesph Simichimba was 22 seconds back in third place.

Junior Abraham Kutingala took fifth with a 24:57.39, while freshman Andrew Kirwa was sixth at 25:03.03. Junior Titus Koeh rounded out the Tide’s top 5 with a 25:15.95 ninth-place finish, giving Alabama five of the top 10 performances.

Alabama returns to action Sept. 29 at the Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore.

Freshman Haley Moody led the UA women to a second-place finish, pushing the Tide ahead of conference foes LSU and Mississippi State.

UAB won the meet with a low score of 33 points, followed by Alabama’s 87. LSU was third with 94 points while Mississippi State scored 98 to take fourth.

“We still have girls a little banged up in our line-up so we are relying on the young girls to get better and train hard at the same time," coach Randy Hasenbank said. “They competed well. I liked the spirit they competed with."

Moody took third overall with a time of 17:50.33, just behind seniors Lauren Blankenship of Samford and Elizabeth Ambrus of UAB.

“I was pleased with Haley Moody’s performance," Hasenbank said. “She ran very well. She was under 18 minutes, which is fantastic."

Tide senior Jen Gray was 13th with an 18:57.21 while junior Farrah Stewart and sophomore Ashley Ard were 18th and 19th, respectively, with times of 19:10.77 and 19:15.95. Freshman Meghan Hawkins rounded out the Tide’s scoring five with a 20:16.95, good for 39th place.

“Jen Gray had a great improvement, maybe 30 seconds, over a year ago," Hasenbank said. “That was significant. Ashley Ard had about a two-minute improvement from one year ago at this meet. That’s great improvement as well."

Alabama returns to action Sept. 29 at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill.