University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Tennessee Dual vs. Louisville
Tennessee Splits Dual Meet vs. Louisville
September 02, 2017 | Track & Field
Wesley Robinson finishes 2nd, leads UT men to victory; Megan Murray takes 3rd as UT women fall to Cardinals
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee men's and women's cross country teams opened the 2017 season on Saturday, splitting a home dual against Louisville at Cherokee Farm Cross Country Course.
Tennessee was victorious in the men's four-mile race, winning 22-35. The Louisville women took an 18-41 win in the 5K. Saturday morning at Cherokee Farm along the Tennessee River was cloudy with a light drizzle, keeping temperatures cool for both races.
Louisville freshman Albert Kosgei won the men's race with a time of 20:17.42. Tennessee had six of the top nine point scorers. UT junior Wesley Robinson led the Vols with a second-place finish in 20:33.41 and freshman teammate John Elrod was right behind him in third place, crossing the finish line in 20:35.28. Sophomore Gashaw Duhamel (fifth, 20:41.08), freshman Conner Hawkins (sixth, 20:42.47) and sophomore Brad Swiney (ninth, 21:07.05) rounded out the Vols' top five. Tennessee freshman Alex Crigger was one of three Vols running unattached and he finished fourth in 20:40.04
"We had a great race on the men's side to start it off," Tennessee director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "They went a little over four miles on the race and had some just some great tactical racing against them. They have a great front-runner who ran away with the race, but then our pack packed up. The quest today was to run together and open it up on the last K and we executed that perfectly. With a bunch of freshmen up there, we felt really good about how that finished up. We held out Zach Long just to start his season up next week with the guys. We feel like we've got some firepower and we started off well, so we look forward to seeing how this season develops."
UofL sophomore Dorcas Wasike won the 22-runner women's 5K with a time of 17:26.07 and fellow Cardinal Aurilla Wilson finished second in 17:31.01. Tennessee sophomore Megan Murray led the Big Orange, finishing third in 17:32.54. Freshman Abigail Smith (eighth, 18:26.55), freshman Alaina Riordan (ninth, 18:37.80), junior Peighton Meske (10th, 18:48.58) and junior Jessica Rizor (112th, 18:53.33) rounded out the Vols' top five.
"On the women, Louisville brought in a great team," Alford-Sullivan said. "They have been an NCAA-caliber program for a long time now and started the preseason ranked around the top 25 and they proved that today. I saw probably the most impressive race I've seen from Megan Murray since I've known her. She went and stuck her nose in it and led the race most of the way and just ran very tough. With our young women, we have some people to put into that lineup too. For early September racing and short-course racing, I was really pleased with what we did today."
Tennessee will next compete in the Bulldog SEC Preview on Sept. 9 at UGA Golf Course in Athens, Georgia.
Players Mentioned
