Men's Results

Sept. 21, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Both the Samford men's and women's cross country teams finished second in the Samford Invitational held at the Spain Park Running Course Friday afternoon.

"It was a good day overall," Samford head coach Glenn McWaters said. "I thought our team was running together really well today. The freshman girls did well. Hillary Neal was second on our team and this was only the second 5K race she's ever run in her life. They are coming along and doing really well."

The women's team finished with 49 points, second only to Eastern Kentucky's 26 points. Individually, Samford's Lauren Blankenship won the women's 5K race with a time of 18:07.04. Hillary Neal finished seventh with a time of 19:44.54. Lauren Pilcher came in 11th with a time of 20:08.17, while Britney Almaguer finished 14th, running the race in 20:44.60.

"Our guys packed together and the beginning of the race, which was what we wanted," McWaters said. "After the first two miles, they began to spread out and I thought they did well"

On the men's side, Samford scored 53 points, while Eastern Kentucky finished first with 18 points in the 8K race. EKU's Jacob Korir won the race with a time of 25:59.10. Samford's top finisher was Drew Anderwald, coming in sixth with a time of 26:59.42. Blaise Carie came in 10th, finishing the event in 27:28.33, Bo Brawner was 11th with a time of 27:39.17 and Chas Keithan was 11th with a time of 27:42.97.

Samford will host the Ohio Valley Conference Championship on the same course on Oct. 27.

"I was really pleased with both the girls and the guys," McWaters said. "We have about five weeks before the conference championship, and I think we will be a lot stronger for the conference meet than we showed today."

Samford will return to action on Sept. 29, when the Bulldogs compete in the Auburn Invitational.