COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 11 Alabama men’s cross country team highlighted the morning of racing with a fourth-place team finish at the Gans Creek Classic, defeating 14 nationally-ranked teams in the process. For the second-straight meet, UA duo Dismus Lokira (22:44.1 | fourth) and Dennis Kipruto (22:51.1 | 10^th) clocked top-10 placements to lead the Crimson Tide across the 8k course.

On the women’s side, Caren Kiplagat finished as the fastest UA runner for the second consecutive meet, recording a 16^th-place finish of 19:40.4. Teammate Cynthia Jemutai made her collegiate debut (19:44.9 | 19^th) Friday morning, also finishing in the top 20 of the 6k race. The No. 6 Alabama women’s team ultimately finished 19^th overall.

UA Men 8k Rundown

• Led by Lokira and Kipruto at the front, Nelson Pariken (23:16.8 | 40^th), Ezekiel Pitireng (23:27.0 | 57^th) and Carson Burian (23:39.2 | 83^rd) rounded out the scoring-five finishes for UA
• Alabama knocked off 14 nationally-ranked programs en route to its fourth-place team finish (193 points), behind only No. 13 Colorado (126 points | third), No. 6 Virginia (107 points, second) and meet winner No. 1 Iowa State (47 points)

UA Women 6k Rundown

• Lilly Walters (20:43.1 | 80^th), Leah Kleekamp (21:33.8 | 171^st) and Meriel Rowland (22:15.9 | 214^th) clocked scoring times for UA, following Kiplagat and Jemutai
• Alabama finished 19^th in the team standings (476 points), ahead of Southeastern Conference foes Ole Miss (20^th, 507 points), Vanderbilt (24^th, 531 points) and Oklahoma (29^th, 717 points)

“There was some tough racing this morning but I’m proud of how hard our team battled. We know there are things we have to clean up and address, but coming away with fourth, in the men’s race, and knocking off close to 15 ranked teams is a very strong statement. We’ll take the lessons learned from today and keep moving forward as we start to approach the postseason.”

Up Next

• Alabama will take two weeks off before hosting the Crimson Classic on Friday, Oct. 17, at Harry Pritchett Running Park
• The men’s 8k race will start at 8:30 a.m. CT with the women’s 6k getting underway at 9:20 a.m.

Alabama Men – Individual Results | 8k

4. Dismus Lokira | 22:44.1

10. Dennis Kipruto | 22:51.1

40. Nelson Pariken | 23:16.8

57. Ezekiel Pitireng | 23:27.0

83. Carson Burian | 23:39.2

107. Jackson Harris | 23:52.4

135. Hamdani Benahmed | 24:05.7

Alabama Women – Individual Results | 6k

16. Caren Kiplagat | 19:40.4

19. Cynthia Jemutai | 19:44.9

80. Lilly Walters | 20:43.1

171. Leah Kleekamp | 21:33.8

214. Meriel Rowland | 22:15.9

233. Izzie Sullivan | 23:15.9

235. Avery Ruesch | 23:37.5