Barrett FreemanThe Road Rebs were in full swing this weekend in the state of Kentucky. While the football team got its first win of the season in Lexington, Ky., the men’s and women’s cross country team put together an impressive performance 70 miles east at Louisville’s Live in Lou classic — with the men’s team bringing in the top seat and the women’s team securing second place.
Senior Waleed Suliman led the pack, and the men quite literally left the competition in the dust in the Gold 8k race, beating the runner-ups by a 41 point margin at 69-28.
The top five runners of the team all placed in the top 10 of the race individually and finished no more than 36 seconds apart from each other. Suliman, the two-time All American veteran of the Ole Miss Rebels, finished second, clocking a 23:36 time. Junior Mario Garcia Romo and sophomore Cole Bullock both finished top 5 with 23:41 and 23:49 times, respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 in the race was Michael Coccia and Dalton Hengst, both with finishes right over 24:10.
The women’s team raced in the Gold 5k and put together a nice performance as well, finishing second overall in the race with a late push toward the end that fell just short against Notre Dame.
Senior Anna Elkin led her squad, setting a new personal record with a time of 17 minutes that landed her fifth place in the race. Sophomore Skyler Boogerd made some heads spin as she set a personal record as well making a 17:09 time.
Not far behind Boogerd was her teammate Victoria Simmons finishing in tenth place with a time of 17:12. To round out the runners, redshirt junior Cilo Ozanne-Jaques raced for the first time since her 2018 NCAA Championship performance, clocking a 17:24 for her first collegiate 5k.
With the men’s team continuing to dominate and the women’s team setting several personal records, there’s much to be excited about for the remainder of the Rebels’ season. The teams will be off this week before traveling for the UAB Blazer Classic on Oct. 16.
