TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Ole Miss men’s cross country team dominated the 10-Kilometer race Friday, while Alabama’s Alfred Chelanga won the men’s individual title at the NCAA South Regional at Apalachee Regional Park.
No. 17 Ole Miss earned its fifth-consecutive ticket to the national meet thanks to its first-place finish. The Rebels had six All-Region runners and placed all five scorers within the top-15 at a scoring spread of 29.2 seconds — beating out second-place Florida State by 47 points.
This is the third South Region title for Ole Miss in the last five meets after winning titles in 2014 and 2016.
“I was very pleased,” said Ole Miss associate head coach Ryan Vanhoy, who was just named SEC Men’s Coach of the Year. “Our plan was to come in and be relaxed and controlled for the first 60 percent of the race, then let the race unfold and make some moves in the last three or four kilometers. Overall, it was what we were looking for.”
Junior Farah Abdulkarim finished third (31 minutes, 18.6 seconds) to earn All-Region honors. Abdulkarim’s finish is the highest since All-American Wesley Gallagher finished third in 2014, and the fourth top-three regional finish in program history after Gallagher’s finish and two by All-American Barnabas Kirui in 2006 (first) and 2009 (second).
Sophomore Waleed Suliman earned All-Region distinction for the second-straight year, finishing sixth (31:22). Senior Mark Robertson earned his second All-Region honor (eighth, 31:30.9).
Other Rebel finishers were: freshman Mario Garcia Romo (13th, 31:36.7, All-Region), SEC Freshman of the Year Cade Bethmann (15th, 31:47.8, All-Region), sophomore Ben Savino (20th, 32:01.4, All-Region), and freshman Dalton Hengst (31st, 32:28.8).
Chelanga took the lead in the final 2,000 meters and raced to victory. The win earned him a berth in the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 17 in Madison, Wisconsin.
“My strategy was to (make my move at) 6,000 meters and it was a good race.” Chelanga said. “I wasn’t worried about the hills because I really know how the course is. He (runner-up Zach Long from Tennessee) was challenging me for a little bit. I think he’s very strong but I’m glad I got him at the end.”
Chelanga is the sixth men’s South Region individual champion in Alabama history and joins Antibahs Kosgei (2015) and Gilbert Kigen (2017) as the third Tide runner to win the regional meet in the last four seasons.
Chelanga circled the 10,000-meter course in 30:59.2 for the win to lead the Tide to a sixth-place finish. Senior Connor Ferrentino finished 25th in 32:12.9 to earn All-South Region honors. Juniors J.P. Brinyark(32:20.0), Clay Austell (33:44.7) and Oliver Rigg (33:51.9) finished 29th, 85th and 91st, respectively, to round out the scoring for Alabama.
“It’s great to have a regional champion again and it was a tremendous accomplishment for Connor to earn All-Region honors,” Alabama coach Dan Waters said. “I’m very proud of how hard we ran as a team today. After all the injuries and adversity we went through this season I’m proud of how hard we continued to compete and the way guys stepped up when we needed them. Everyone kept competing hard, which is what you need in a tough season like this. That’s why I’m so proud of this team. They competed and had a lot of pride. It’s part of the culture we’re trying to build here.”
In the women’s race, No. 23 Ole Miss finished third in the 6-K race.
Ole Miss (third, 87) beat out No. 30 Georgia Tech (fourth, 144) and No. 29 Georgia (fifth, 165), but fell behind two upstart programs in Florida State (60) and No. 21 Florida (64), who snared the automatic qualifier bids.
On Saturday, Ole Miss learnd it will be one of nine schools in the nation to send its men’s and women’s programs to the national meet in each of the last three seasons – joining Arkansas, BYU, Colorado, Iowa State, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, and Stanford.
Ole Miss also is one of seven programs in the NCAA with a chance to place both its teams in the top 25 for a third-straight season alongside Arkansas, BYU, Colorado, N.C. State, Oregon, and Stanford.
“It’s a great feeling to be returning to the NCAA Championship with both teams for the third year in a row,” said associate head coach Ryan Vanhoy, the SEC’s Men’s Coach of the Year. “The athletes have invested a lot into this season, so it’s exciting to be able to finish it together in Madison next weekend.”
Sophomore Clio Ozanne-Jaques finished fifth (20:34.1). It is the highest women’s finish at the regional meet in program history. It also is the second All-Region honor for Ozanne-Jaques.
Other Rebel finishers were: freshman Lisa Vogelgesang (14th, 21:00.3, All-Region), sophomore Maddie King (20th, 21:09.9, All-Region), freshman Ylvi Traxler (25th, 21:12.8, All-Region), junior Maddie McHugh (26th, 21:12.9), sophomore Anna Elkin (37th, 21:37.7) and freshman Courtney Hopkins (55th, 21:47.0).
Junior Esther Gitahi led Alabama with a 29th-place finish in 21:16.7. Fellow juniors McKenzie Yanek (21:33.4) and Rebecca Buteau (21:42.0) finished 39th and 50th, respectively, while senior Nicole Gardner (21:45.9) finished 54th and sophomore Maddie Dearborn finished 72nd in 22:11.7 to round out the scoring for UA.
Alabama finished eighth as a team. Florida State and Florida finished 1-2 to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
The Mississippi State women and men earned 13th- and 19th-place finishes, respectively.
“We’re disappointed with the finish today,” MSU coach Houston Franks said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this year, with a lot of learning opportunities. We needed to get out better in both races today, and that made it a bit tougher to claw back into it. I thought we displayed a lot of toughness today, despite the result. Now, it’s time to take what we’ve learned this fall and get ready for indoor track season.”
Seniors Mia Meydrich and Shannon Fair finished 41st and 47th, respectively, to lead the women’s team. Emma Tucker (85th), Katherine Badham (101st), and Sydney Steely (109th) rounded out the top five.
In the men’s race, John Dalton Rohr finished 76th with a personal-best mark of 33:28.3. Luke Zacharias also set a personal best by finishing in 33:46.4 to finish 89th. JT Mackay (100th), Lake Spradling (107th) and Caden Foos (135th) rounded out MSU’s scorers.
The Southern Mississippi women’s team finished 11th with a program-best score of 248 points.
Sandra Szpott placed 13th (20:59.1), which is the highest finish in school history, running the 6k with a time of 20:59.1.
Former Starkville High School standout Kate Mattox was second on the team and 33rd overall (21:24.1).
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