The Centre cross country team traveled to Jackson, Miss. to compete in the first ever SAA Cross Country Championship meet and had one of its best performances of the season, taking first place and placing five runners on the all-conference teams.
Centre took first place in the event with a score of 33 points. Sewanee finished second with 51, with Rhodes six points back of them for third place. Berry and Millsaps rounded out the top five with respective scores of 114 and 143.
Individually, the Colonels posted three out of the top five times in the race, with each runner earning first team all-conference honors as a result. Sophomore Hannah Ellis (Crestwood, Ky.) took first place on the 6k course with a time of 22:06 and won SAA Female Runner of the Year with her first place finish. Sophomore Ashley El Rady (Louisville, Ky.) finished third with a time of 22:44. Sophomore Emily Akin (Cincinnati, Ohio) took fourth place with a time of 23:12.
Junior Megan Radenhausen (Edgewood, Ky.) earned honorable mention all-conference honors for Centre with a 12th place time of 23:42. She was joined on the honorable mention all-conference team by sophomore Cristin Palmer (Louisville, Ky.), who finished in 13th place with a time of 23:45.
The Colonels will be back in action on November 10th, as they will compete in the South/Southeast Regional Championships in Atlanta, Ga.
The Centre men's cross country team competed in the first ever SAA Cross Country Championship meet today in Jackson, Miss. The Colonels finished in first place and six Centre runners were named to the all-conference team.
The Colonels posted a combined team score of 38 points at the conference championship, 21 points ahead of second place Rhodes at 59. Hendrix finished third with 94 points, followed by Birmingham Southern and Berry with respective scores of 100 and 115.
Individually, Centre was paced by junior John Kieffer (Dublin, Ohio), who took first place on the 8k course with a time of 25:06. Kieffer's first place finish earned him the 2012 SAA Male Runner of the Year award as well as a spot on the first team all-conference team.
Three Centre runners earned second team all-conference honors. Sophomore John Burke(Louisville, Ky.) finished sixth with a time of 26:01. Sophomore Albert Anastasio (Champaign, Ill.) finished immediately behind Burke for seventh place and a time of 26:05. Freshman Victor Pataky(Upper Arlington, Ohio) took tenth place with a time of 26:18.
Two more Colonels were named honorable mention all-conference. Sophomore Matt McCurdy (Bartlett, Tenn.) took 14th place with a time of 26:34 and sophomore Matt Gilbert finished in 15th place with a time of 26:35.
The next meet for the Centre men's cross country team will be the South/Southeast Regional Championships in Atlanta, Ga. on November 10th.