Alabama Standout Wins Women's Race By 15 Seconds; Florida Wins Women's Team Title; Kelvin Cheruiyot of Florida Wins Men's Race As Alabama Claims Team Win

Story And Photos By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In her first race since the World Athletics Championships in September, Alabama’s Doris Lemngole showed no signs of rust, easily defending her individual title at the women’s SEC Cross Country Championships.

Lemngole crossed the line in the women’s 6-kilometer race in 19:32.37, nearly 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Judy Kepkoech from Florida. 

The Crimson Tide junior made a move just after the halfway point. She wasn’t feeling good at that point — “I was just moving (along),” she said — but she knew if she stayed with the lead pack, she would have to contend with a sprint finish, which she didn’t want any part of.

“Sometimes, when you stay with a group, it’s crazy,” Lemngole said, “so I was like, ‘I just want to go early.’”

Counting indoor and outdoor track, Lemngole has now won six SEC titles. In three weeks — assuming she advances through the South Regional — she’ll attempt to defend her NCAA title. Last year, she ran 19:21 to beat New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei and earn her first NCAA cross country title.

“I know it’s gonna be tough,” Lemngole said, “but I believe in myself.”

Two of Lemngole’s teammates — freshmen Caren Kiplagat and Cynthia Jemutai — finished third and fourth, respectively, but the Tide’s front-loaded effort wasn’t enough to top the Gators. With all of their top five in the top 20 overall, Florida scored just 45 points, well ahead of the Alabama’s 117.

Coach Will Palmer said the victory was a confirmation of what they’ve known all season, which is that they are one of the best teams in the NCAA. 

“We’ve got incredible depth,” Palmer said. “We have nine really, really talented women that we can lean on, which kind of takes the pressure off all of them individually.”

Palmer said his squad hasn’t had a consistent top five pecking order all season; their order is interchangeable from one meet to the next.

“I think that’s typically what you see with really great teams,” Palmer said.

On the men’s side, Alabama kept it rolling with a similarly dominant victory, scoring 64 points — 59 ahead of runner-up Georgia. Sophomores Dismus Lokira and Dennis Kipruto finished fifth and eighth, respectively, while the next three — freshmen Nelson Pariken and Ezekiel Pitireng and senior Carson Burian — all finished inside the top 20.

Heading into the meet, the Crimson Tide were ranked eighth nationally in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll, well ahead of 20th-ranked Georgia, but head coach Dan Waters insisted that his team was not the favorite.

“There were six teams in this race that could have won,” Waters said. “It was an incredibly difficult day today.”

According to Waters, the move that made all the difference was one by Lokira, the team’s top performer all season — and it wasn’t a forward move. In the middle of the race, Lokira intentionally dropped back in the pack to run with his teammates and make sure they didn’t fall back.

At first, Waters thought he was simply having a bad day, but he soon realized it was a deliberate move.

“He knew that it was about those guys in the race for us to be able to win the championship,” Waters said.

Without that move, Waters said, his team may not have been able to come away with the win.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Kelvin Cheruiyot came away with the individual victory, covering the 8-kilometer course in 23:08.26. With a kilometer left, he was still in a pack of four with Auburn’s Nickson Chebii, Arkansas’s Timothy Chesondin and Oklahoma’s Evans Biwott, but he pulled away in the home stretch to win by three seconds.

The freshman said his late move was intentional; his coach told him to hang with the pack for a large portion of the race and then make a decision in the last few kilometers.

“In the last (kilometer), it’s up to you,” Cheruiyot said. “You choose how you’re gonna push the race and how you’re gonna win it.”