Despite having three weeks off between meets, the University of South Alabama used a strong group effort to win the men’s 5k race and place second in the women’s two-mile race Saturday at Troy’ Coach “O” Invitational.

The men had the top six finishers in their race led by Saber Salah, who finished first with a time of 16:05.98. Scott Lasiter finished second with a time of 16:06.25, just a tenth of a second behind Salah. Damien Lee ran a time of 16:13.80 to come in third, while Matt Miller completed the course with a time of 16:14.17 to finish fourth only a tenth of a second behind Lee.  Mark Sullivan was fifth with a time of 16:24.17 and Zac Brantley finished sixth with a time of 16:34.13.
 
And, the Jags Rich Schmitz finished 19th with a time of 17:51.88.

The men finished with 15 total points, beating second-place Troy by 30 points.

USA’s women finished with 32 points, just 3 points behind first-place Troy. The Jags were led by Dani Sullivan, who finished second with a time of 11:43.12. It was the second race this year that Sullivan had finished second. The Jags had three of the top four finishers, as Tori Lawson finished third with a time of 11:53.10 and Jessie Mackie finished fourth with a time of 12:12.68.

Brittany Westmoreland ran a time of 12:38.87 to finish eighth. Faith Sanders finished 15th with a time of 13:30.74, Leah Hixon was 19th with a time of 13:43.94 and Courtney Kieffer finished 22nd with a time of 14:07.56.

“The men dominated the field. They came in and produced a perfect team score,” said Head Coach Paul Brueske,” The women were very close to winning so overall it wasn't a bad day. We are looking forward to the Conference Meet in two weeks.”   

Huntington placed third in the both races, recording 100 points in the men’s race and 82 points in the women’s competition.

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

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