TicketsCINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati cross country teams enjoyed some top performances, and the men finished seventh while the women were eighth at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
Nickson Kogei won the men's side with a 22:39.4 mark in the 8k, a mere 1.2 seconds ahead of Notre Dame's Ethan Coleman, a Second Team All-American last year in the track 10,000 meters. Kogei previously ran unattached, and was the top men's finisher, in the season-opening RedHawk Rumble did not compete in the last event.
"First, on the women's side, I thought it was really positive considering we weren't in the top section last year," head coach Lucas Rothenberger said. "I think we're finishing just as high in this one, so we're taking leaps and bounds. We were really good up front with Ann, Claire and Abby mixing it up."
Ann Lemirisho's 16:19.1 mark was 35 seconds better than her other 5K: the season-opening RedHawk Rumble. Five of the runners ahead of her belonged to the host, and top-ranked regional team, Notre Dame.
Claire Curtsinger followed at 16:38.4, and freshman Abby Sewell was No. 27 at 16:48.0. There were 180 women's competitors in all.
Lucas Towne was 25th for the men (23:35.1) followed by Seth Elking and Gianni Allwein at Nos. 69 and 75, respectively, out of the 150-runner field.
"This is the second year in a row on the men's side we've had runners at the front, especially with Nickson's first time in uniform," Rothenberger said. "He's every bit as good as we hoped he would be. He looked very confident throughout the race. Lucas Towne also shined as a sophomore to be 25th, and the team improved from last year to finish seventh out of 20 teams. It is a big step toward the postseason."
Cincinnati returns to action Oct. 17 for the Angel Mounds Invite in Evansville, Indiana, its final challenge before the Big 12 Championships.