The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
NCAA Pre-Nationals
Rebel Cross Country Runs Well At Pre-Nationals
10/16/2010 | Track and Field
Oct. 16, 2010
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Barnabas Kirui raced to a fourth-place finish in the men's 8K "Blue" race at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Saturday.
The NCAA Pre-Nationals include two equally divided men's races featuring the top runners and cross country teams in the nation.
Kirui finished behind three Stanford runners to place fourth with a time of 23:29.3. Martin Kirui was the next finisher for the Rebels in 86th with a time of 24:49.8. Also running were Kipchirchir Kiptoo, Max Holman and Riley Young.
As a team, Ole Miss finished 28th of 35 teams with 662 points, just 21 points behind Southeastern Conference rival Georgia.
"Barnabas ran a great race and ran well all the way," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Walker. "Last year he finished ninth in this race and wound up fourth in the NCAAs, so I think this is a good result for him. We ran pretty well as a team and took some positive steps.
Also on Saturday, Logan Waites won an individual title and led Ole Miss to a team title in the women's 5K race at the Choctaw Open in Clinton, Miss. Waites had a winning time of 17:41.47. Katie Breathitt finished second with a time of 18:08.64. Ole Miss won the event with 15 points, ahead of Southeastern Louisiana's 58 points.
The Ole Miss men's "B" team ran to a third-place finish in the Choctaw Open's four-mile race, behind Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana-Monroe. Loren Newsom led the way with a fourth-place showing and a time of 21:07.92.
"Our women had a phenomenal meet," Walker said. "Everybody ran personal bests and ran really well. They've been working hard, and we thought they had been improving. Today's results prove that. The B team also ran well. We wanted to see who could help us at the SEC Championships, so that was positive."
The Nov. 1 SEC Championships will be held in Columbia, S.C., and hosted by South Carolina. Barnabas Kirui will look to defend his title after claiming the 2009 Championship in Oxford.
