With improvement from last season’s Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championship meet as the primary goal of the Mississippi State cross country teams, the men’s team met that goal head-on Saturday.Mississippi State’s men’s squad placed fifth in the SEC Championship meet in Lexington, Ky., besting its sixth-place finish from a year ago. While the Lady Bulldogs did not improve from last season’s fifth-place finish, they grabbed a respectable seventh-place in the event, collecting 209 points.
The Bulldogs’ 139 points gave them a fifth-place finish in the 8K race, which was beaten by the first-place Arkansas squad with 36 points, Florida, which had 74 points, Alabama, which captured 82 points, and Tennessee with 102 points. Men’s cross country head coach Steve Dudley said he was pleased with the committed effort shown by his runners in Saturday’s race.
“I believe the guys ran hard today,” he said. “I also know the guys have worked extremely hard through the summer and fall. Coach Franks has done a tremendous job getting our guys in very good shape.”
Senior runner Ashenafi Arega led the Bulldog team for the first time this season with a time of 24:59.32, which put him in 20th place overall. Robert Scribner crossed the finish line two places behind Arega at 25:03.26. Freshman Ben Blankenship was the third Bulldog runner to complete the race at a time of 25:05.77.
While Dudley’s main focus was to better last season’s sixth-place finish, the team’s goal was to finish in the top four at the SEC meet. Dudley said he shouldered the blame for not placing higher.
“We have a top four SEC team when it comes to fitness and effort,” Dudley said. “Unfortunately, I coached them to a fifth-place finish. The guys are doing their job, and I just have to start doing the same job the Arkansas, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee coaches do.”
Many of the teams that topped the men’s team also placed higher than the Lady Bulldog squad. The Arkansas women’s team also took home the top honors by gathering 39 points. Tennessee captured 84 points, which gave it a one-point advantage over Georgia for second place. The Florida team totaled 96 points for fourth place. Kentucky and Auburn came in fifth and sixth places with 102 points and 158 points.
Women’s team head coach Al Schmidt said the injuries that have plagued some of the members of the squad throughout the season played a part in Saturday’s finish.
“The season has been a tough one for us, but the girls ran tough,” Schmidt said. “Our goal before the season was to be in the top half of the conference, but injuries hampered us all year.”
The Lady Bulldogs were led by freshman runner with Sarah Hammes leading the Lady Bulldogs with a time of 21:32.50, placing 19th overall, and Simone Domingue placing 24th overall, running 21:39.56.
Hammes and Domingue, along with Blankenship from the men’s side, were named to the SEC All-Freshman team due to their solid performances.
“Having Sarah [Hammes] and Simone [Domingue] on the All-Freshman team was fantastic,” Schmidt said. “They have a bright future in the SEC and obviously so will we.