Arkansas men, Tennessee women win SEC titles

Posted 3:08PM on Saturday 29th October 2005 ( 19 years ago )

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Arkansas' men withstood a strange finish to win their 15th straight Southeastern Conference cross country championship on Saturday. Razorbacks senior Josphat Boit also defended his individual crown at Fort Jackson, a U.S. Army training base on the outskirts of South Carolina's capital. The championships were moved to South Carolina last month from Baton Rouge, La., because of damage from Hurricane Katrina. Tennessee's women won their third straight SEC championship, beating Arkansas by three points a year after the Lady Vols took the crown in Fayetteville, Ark., by just two points. Auburn senior Angela Homan won her third consecutive individual cross country title. The Razorback men had a few moments of concern, though, after officials realized that the top four runners in the 8K race, including Boit, Alabama's Augustus Maiyo, and Shawn Forrest and Kenny Cormier of Arkansas were guided off the official course as they approached the finish line. However, Arkansas coach John McDonnell said it was determined that his team would still have captured the title even without its top three finishers. The conference made the results official once the protest period ran out. Arkansas has won 32 straight conference cross country championships, including every one since entering the SEC in 1991. ``I was worried at first when they started talking about disqualifying people,'' McDonnell said. ``It would have been a real shame for the guys if anything would have happened because it was such a classy race.'' Arkansas had five runners in the top eight. Boit led the way with a time of 22 minutes, 59.10 seconds. He was followed by Forrest in third, Cormier in fourth, Marc Rodrigues in seventh and Peter Kosgei in eight. Boit led his race throughout and became the first Razorback with consecutive championships since Michael Power did it in 1998-99. Maiyo of Alabama was second in 23:01.18. Boit said he was pleased winning two straight SEC titles ``because it doesn't happen often. The way the team ran together was perfect.'' The Tennessee women had four finishers in the top 11 and again narrowly edged Arkansas. Felicia Guliford led the Lady Vols, taking second behind Homan in 19:46.23. Sarah Bowman was sixth for Tennessee, Katie Flaute was eighth and Leah Soro 11th. Arkansas placed four runners in the top 12. Freshman Christine Kalmer finished fifth, the Lady Razorbacks' leading competitor. ``To have five runners in the top 20 and not win is crazy,'' Arkansas women's coach Lance Harter said. ``The meet set up from the beginning as a dual between us and Tennessee and we just weren't able to get the help that we needed to win.'' No one could catch Homan for the individual crown. She took the lead in the 6K race at about the one-mile mark and cruised to victory in 19:40.00. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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