Alabama Cross Country’s No. 10 Women and No. 25 Men Both Take Third at Joe Piane Invitational

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – In a field packed with ranked teams, the Alabama cross country men and women both finished third at the Joe Piane Invitational, that was held in South Bend, Ind., Friday morning.

The No. 25-ranked Crimson Tide men finished third with 126 points behind a trio of top-six individual finishes, including Victor Kiprop (23:16.5) getting the win, Eliud Kipsang (23:19.9) taking third and Hillary Cheruiyot (23:24.9) finishing sixth over the five-mile course.

In a race that included the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 8 team in the country, as well as the No. 10-ranked Crimson Tide, the Alabama women finished third with 70 points, just two points out of second. Mercy Chelangat (16:02.1) took second and Hilda Olemomoi (16:04.9) finished third to pace the UA women over the 5,000-meter course.

“Overall, it was a very successful day for both teams. Our women went toe-to-toe with arguably the best two teams in the country and we were right there. In a very tough and deep field, our ladies raced with heart and soul all the way. To have this kind of meet against this kind of competition is a big step forward for us. On the men’s side of the meet, our top-three guys did really well against a great field. We’re proud of Victor for getting the win and for Eliud and Hillary for racing tough. The rest of our guys followed through on what was an aggressive race plan. We gained some invaluable experience and put up breakthrough performances up and down the line, giving us our best finish ever at this meet. There’s still a lot of racing left to do, but we know what we need to do to be successful at the end of the season.”

The Crimson Tide at the Joe Piane Invitational

• In a race that included four of the nation’s top-10 teams, the Alabama women took third with 70 points, just two points out of second
• In her first race of the season, Mercy Chelangat took second place, while Hilda Olemomoi was third in her second race wearing the crimson and white of Alabama
• Amaris Tyynismaa and Flomena Asekol were 15^th and 18^th, respectively, in their first races of the season
• Elka Machan took 32^nd place to round out the Crimson Tide’s scoring five
• In a race that featured five ranked teams among the top-10 finishers, the UA men took third place with 126 points
• Victor Kiprop won his second race in a row after also taking top honors at the North Alabama Showcase
• In addition to Kiprop, Eliud Kipsang was third and Hillary Cheruiyot…