For the third year in a row, the Mississippi State Bulldogs cross country team finished first in both men’s and women’s events at the Sewanee Invitational in Sewanee, Tenn. on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were the heavy favorites coming into the event and did not disappoint. The coaches were pleased with the team’s performance on the day.
“It gives us an idea where our guys are at and what we need to work on,” men’s coach Steve Dudley said.
“Each meet is a buildup. Each meet is a bigger and more important meet,” women’s coach Al Schmidt said. “It was a perfect start for us.”
Men
The men’s team had five runners finish within a minute of each other in the top 10. They were led by senior Robert Scribner, who finished first overall individually, with a time of 25 minutes, 40.20 seconds. Sophomore Adam Lenz finished in second with a time of 25:47.38.
Dudley said Scribner and Lenz sacrificed some individual time to keep the team running together as a pack.
Junior Daniel Simpkins finished sixth with a time of 26:17.46, and sophomores Matthew Cameron and Cameron Vincent finished eighth and 10th, with times of 26.27:59 and 26:35.14, respectively.
“This meet was definitely a great way to start the season,” Simpkins said. “We were able to focus on running as a tightly-knit pack, and we didn’t have to worry too much about our overall time. It gave us a good evaluation of our current fitness level, and it showed us what we need to do next to
progress forward.”
As a team, the men finished
first overall with 27 points, which are determined by adding up the placing of each school’s top five runners. Emory University came in second place with 41 points.
Women
In the women’s 5K event, freshman Renee Masterson finished in third place with a time of 18:17.12. Sophomore Simone Domingue finished in fourth with a
time of 18:45.75.
Also in the top 10 were freshman Dominique Lockhart, who came in fifth place at 19:02.03, and sophomore Lydia Chebii, who finished seventh with a
time of 19:14.11.
“It was a positive race. Everything’s right on pace toward the way we want it,”
Schmidt said.
He said he was pleased that the team as a whole averaged 50-seconds-per-person faster than it had in the past.
Schmidt was also proud of sophomore Loren Bruce, who finished 15th with a time of 19:39.68 and set her
personal-best mark.
Overall, the women’s team finished first with a score of 30, well ahead of the second place team, Emory,
who scored 69.
Both teams now look ahead to their next meet, the MSU Invitational in Starkville on Sept. 20.