EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Austin Peay State University men and women's cross country teams had strong showings at the Evansville Invitational, Saturday. The men finished seventh out of 14 teams while the women finished 11th out of 12.
The men were led by sophomore Enock Langat's 27:07.59 mark, which was good for 17th place overall. Senior Andre Briama finished 35th with a 27:38.37 mark, while sophomore Boniface Yator was 50th with a 27:53.56 time. The men also beat Ohio Valley Conference rivals Tennessee Martin and Murray State.
"Enock ran a nice race," said head coach Doug Molnar. "We still need our fifth guy to step up; the top four are pretty close together. (Sophomore) Evan Collins only ran a couple of miles today, and he's someone we've been counting on. (Freshman) Nick Gammon has been our fifth guy a couple of times this season, but he's got to close the gap between four and five for us to be competitive."
On the women's side, sophomore Janelle Avery set the pace with a 20:24.66 mark in the five-kilometer run, good for 30th place. Senior Tracee Gruskiewicz finished 68th with a 22:06.85 mark. The Lady Govs were without the services of senior Shamai Larsen, who has been a solid contributor this season.
"Because of the conditions, the course was absolute slop today," said Molnar. "About halfway through the race, Shamai slipped and twisted her knee and couldn't finish. I hope it's not serious; we have two weeks to get everyone healthy before the conference championships. If we can do that, we have a chance to do some damage."
The cross country teams will travel to Nashville to compete in the OVC Championships, Saturday, October 31.
