PENSACOLA, Fla.—Alabama State University's Jepthah Kenei won the Gulf Coast Cross Country Stampede finishing the course in 26:02. He won the meet going away as the closest competitor was 43 seconds behind.
Kenei's teammate Charles Flewellen also had a top-10 finish with a seventh-place finish with a time of 27:49.
The Hornets finished the meet in sixth place with 135 points as Cody Pace (35th), Albert Florvil (45th) and Jerrell mumford (48th) also completed in the meet.
"Our guys did very well against some top competition,"Head Coach Ritchie Beene said. "We have three young guys that are running cross country for the first time and we also had one of our seniors, Chris Duncan, who did not make the trip. The guys responded well and pulled together and competed."
Kesia Derilus finished with a seventh-place finish in the women's run with a finishing time of 19:13.20. Lutrisha Altidor was only four spots back with an 11th place finish while Raheema Hodges (19th) and Courtney Gooch (20th) also finished among the top-20.
Soyong Smith finished 27th and Breana Kelly finished 31st and Simone Buford finished 35th. The women finished third among the 10-team meet with 84 total points.
"Six of our seven girls improved on their time and we are excited about that," Beene said. "We had two girls finish in the top-10 against good competition from Southern Mississippi and Nicholls State. The course was flat, but it was about 60 percent sand so it made the course very resistant and very competitive."
-Hornets-
