The Mississippi State cross country teams left the 2008 Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., Saturday afternoon with bittersweet results. The women’s team finished in 33rd place and the men’s team finished with 26th place, but some of the individual performers turned in their best-ever times.
Freshman Renee Masterson paced the Lady Bulldogs, running a time of 22:02.8 in the 6K event, with freshman Lydia Chebbi close behind at 22:20.9. Dominique Lockhart followed behind her with a time of 22:25.4 and Simone Domingue had a time of 22:54.5.
The men’s team finished 26th, led by sophomore Adam Lenz, who crossed the 8K finish line at 24:22.4. Lenz just edged out senior Robert Scribner, who finished in 24:22.9. Senior Jonathan Rono fell close behind the two as he crossed the line at 25:15.0 and junior Cameron Vincent finished with a time of 25:55.0.
“We faced the same problem,” said coach Al Schmidt. “Our sophomores, Simone and Sarah, didn’t run well. Simone went out too hard and hit the wall with about 2,000 meters to go. Our freshmen, Dominique, Lydia and Renee, ran really well. The training is going well, but they just have to get their minds prepared for the SEC meet two weeks from now. We beat Georgia Tech, which was good because they were ahead of us in the polls.”
Men’s coach Steve Dudley described the day as “pretty good,” and pointed out Rono ran an inspiring race with a heavy heart due to a family tragedy.
“He found out [Friday] that his sister passed away,” Dudley explained. “We left it up to him whether or not to run. He ran with a lot of emotional weight on his heart today and ran a great race. Robert Scribner and Adam Lenz both ran lifetime [personal records] in the 8K today. We are looking forward to the SEC Championships in two weeks.”
As for the women’s meet, Washington dominated and in the men’s meet Stanford took home the top slot.
Both men’s and women’s teams return to action Monday, Nov. 3, as the Bulldogs host the SEC championships. Last season, in Lexington, Ky., MSU’s men finished fifth at the SEC championships and the women finished seventh.