TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's cross country team recorded a 15th-place finish in an impressive field Friday morning at the Crimson Classic held at the Harry Pritchett Running Park, while the Jaguar women placed 18th among 30 teams.

Warno Potgieter was the top South Alabama runner for the men as he just missed out on a top 30 finish in the 8k crossing the line in 32nd-place out of the 223 Division I runner field with a time of 25:25.2.  Junior runner Laura Labuschaigne paced the Jaguar women in the 6k portion of the meet placing 31st with a time of 21:31.2.

Middle Tennessee and Alabama tied for top honors with 110 points in the men's 8k with the Blue Raiders taking the tiebreaker.  Georgia Tech (74 pts) ran away from the field as all five of the Yellow Jacket scorers finished inside the top 30 and held a 50-point advantage over second-place Auburn in the women's 6k.

Date: 10/13
Meet: Crimson Classic
Host Institution: Alabama
Place: Harry Pritchett Running Park (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)

Men's 8k Results.pdf
Women's 6k Results.pdf

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
WOMEN – 6K
1. Brenda Kigen, Auburn (20:23.4); 2. Eden Meyer, North Florida (20:29.1); 3. Kelsie Warren, Texas A&M (20:30.1); 4. Karisa Nelson, Samford (20:38.8); 5. Shannon Fair, Mississippi State (20:44.9); 6. Ashley Driscoll, Texas A&M (20:45.4); 7. Amy Ruiz, Georgia Tech (20:45.7); 8. Stephanie Peterson, Mississippi State (20:47.7); 9. Mary Prouty, Georgia Tech (20:49.3); 10. Lisa Oed, Mississippi State (20:50.6)
31. Laura Labuschaigne, South Alabama (21:31.2)

MEN – 8K
1. Jacob Choge, Middle Tennessee (23:22.3); 2. Vincent Kiprop, Alabama (23:26.4), 3. Gilbert Kigen, Alabama (23:34.7); 4. Alfred Chelanga, Alabama (23:42.0); 5. Edwin Kurgat, Tennessee-Martin (23:50.2); 6. Nahom Solomon, Georgia Tech (23:56.4); 7. Kigen Chemadi, Middle Tennessee (24:06.7); 8. Christian Farris, Texas A&M (24:36.3); 9. Nick Morken, North Florida (24:38.8); 10. Justin Domangue, Texas-Arlington (24:40.9)
32. Warno Potgieter, South Alabama (25:25.5)

TEAM FINISHES
WOMEN – 6K
1. Georgia Tech (74 pts); 2. Auburn (124 pts); 3. Mississippi State (126 pts); 4. Samford (133 pts); 5. Alabama (147 pts); 6. Texas A&M (163 pts); 7. Belmont (234 pts); 8. Oklahoma (254 pts); 9. North Florida (281 pts); 10. UAB (316 pts); 11. Southern Mississippi (336 pts); 12. South Carolina (357 pts); 13. Tennessee-Martin (380 pts); 14. LSU (390 pts); 15. Florida State (400 pts); 16. Memphis (408 pts); 17. Middle Tennessee (411 pts); 18. SOUTH ALABAMA (413 pts); 19. Stephen F. Austin (425 pts); 20. Texas-Arlington (489 pts); 21. Chattanooga (509 pts); 22. Kennesaw State (590 pts); 23. Georgia Southern (641 pts); 24. Mercer (707 pts); 25. UT-Rio Grand Valley (756 pts); 26. Alabama State (781 pts); 27. Lipscomb (793 pts); 28. Southeastern Louisiana (795 pts); 29. Jacksonville State (875); 30. Troy (886 (pts)

MEN – 8K
1. Middle Tennessee (110 pts); 2. Alabama (110 pts); 3. Georgia Tech (124 pts); 4. Auburn (134 pts); 5. Belmont (138 pts); 6. Texas A&M (147 pts); 7. North Florida (155 pts); 8. Samford (193 pts); 9. Tennessee-Martin (253 pts); 10. Texas-Arlington (305 pts); 11. Memphis (333 pts); 12. Troy (351 pts); 13. Oklahoma (359 pts); 14. Mississippi State (370 pts); 15. SOUTH ALABAMA (382 pts); 16. LSU (397 pts); 17. Stephen F. Austin (446 pts); 18. Chattanooga (457 pts); 19. Vanderbilt (496 pts); 20. UT-Rio Grand Valley (523 pts); 21. Southeastern Louisiana (542 pts); 22. Louisiana Tech (550 pts); 23. Lipscomb (700 pts); 24. Mercer (737 pts); 25. Alabama State (805 pts); 26. Jacksonville State (828 pts)
*MT won the meet tiebreaker over Alabama.

SOUTH ALABAMA INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
WOMEN – 6K
31. Laura Labuschaigne (21:31.2); 84. Carolien Millenaar (22:20.0); 88. Nicole Van Der Merwe (22:24.7); 91. Kailee Kiminski (22:26.0); 160. Gillianne Sharp (23:30.5); 257. Katelyn Cowie (26:16.9)

MEN – 8K
32. Warno Potgieter (25:25.5); 66. Migael Strydom (25:54.5); 98. Luke Fielding (26:21.7); 112. Ben Rolader (26:38.3); 120. Nate Pudner (26:43.6); 137. Dylan Pausic (26:58.7); 155. Phillip Friedlander (27:51.1); 178. John Paul Rumore (27:52.2); 209. Graylon Cross (29:42.9)

NOTES
- The Jaguar men were led by Warno Potgieter who placed 32nd at the even with a time of 25:25.3.
- The 32nd-place finish marked the second-straight meet that Potgieter has led the Jaguar men and was the first time this season he has finished outside the top 10.
- Migael Strydom also continued to have a solid freshman season recording a top-75 finish in the 223-runner field crossing the line with a time of 25:54.5 to place 66th.
- Luke Fielding also recorded a top 100 finish as he was 98th with a time of 26:21.7.
- The meet was the first collegiate cross country race for sophomore runner Graylon Cross.
- With the 15th-place finish, the South Alabama men improved nine spots and took off 150 points from last season's performance at the Crimson Classic.
- Along with meet host Alabama there were a total of 11 (Alabama, Auburn, Belmont, Georgia Tech, Lipscomb, Middle Tennessee, North Florida, Samford, Tennessee-Martin, Texas A&M and Texas-Arlington) out of the 26-team field regionally ranked on the men's side, while 14 teams (Alabama, Auburn, Belmont, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Lipscomb, LSU, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Samford, Southern Miss, Texas A&M and UAB) regionally ranked in the 31-team women's field.
- For the third time this season and her eighth straight meet, Laura Labuschaigne paced the South women as she came in 31st with a tie of 21:31.2.
- Labuschaigne's narrowly missed extending her streak of top 30 finishes at the meet by one spot, snapping a streak of seven straight for the junior.
- With her time of 22:26, Kailee Kiminski set a new 6k personal best, shaving nearly a minute off of her previous time.  It was also the sixth top 100 finish of her career as she has done so in six of her eight career races.
- The Jaguar women were the highest placing Sun Belt team (18th, 413 pts) at the meet as they crossed the line in front of Texas-Arlington (20th, 489 pts), Georgia Southern (23rd, 631 pts) and Troy (30th, 886 pts).
- The 6k was the first for the South Alabama women this fall.
- The NCAA South Regional will be held on the same courses next month on Nov. 10.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Parker Cowles
- On the men's performance against the talented field: "I thought the men executed our plan very well today.  I wanted them to stay within themselves and then move up in the field late in the race, and they did that well.  We've got a pretty talented group and we have to find that happy medium of starting a little faster early on and putting themselves a little farther up in the field to begin with.  That's probably on me mostly because I've gone over and over with them about being conservative.  When we go out in two weeks at the [Sun Belt] Conference meet, they need to put themselves up at the front, but overall I thought they executed the race plan very well and did what we were trying to do."
- On Warno Potgieter: "Warno ran an exceptionally strong race today up at the front for us, and that was good to see."
- On the women's race today: "For the most part, I think the team ran great, but we're in a position where we have to have all of our top five runners execute well if we are going to be strong as a team.  We have a lot of room to grow as a women's program, but I thought the race was pretty encouraging."
- On Kailee Kiminski and Laura Labuschaigne: "Kailee Kiminski had the big race of the day for us and her performance today was a huge improvement of where she's been this year and that was fun to see.  Laura ran very well up front against a talented field."

UP NEXT
- The Jaguars will begin postseason competition at the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Cross Country Championships held at the Moses Cone Memorial Park in Boone, N.C. and hosted by Appalachian State on Sat., Oct. 28.  The women will compete in the 6K at 9 a.m. (CT) and will be followed by the men's 8k beginning at 10 a.m. (CT).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Finish Line Club, the track and field and cross country specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All donations to the Finish Line Club go directly to support the South Alabama track and field/cross country programs.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/finishlineclub

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