SEWANEE, Tenn. -- Senior Tiffany Palmer led the Tennessee Tech
women's cross country team to a fifth place finish and junior Sam
Taylor set the pace for the men's team to place sixth at the
Sewanee Fall Cross Country Invitational, held Saturday morning at
the Sewanee Golf Course.
Palmer, the most experienced runner in the lineup for coach Tony
Cox's women's team, placed 12th individually while leading the
Golden Eagles to a 6-4 record in the season opener with the sixth
place finish among 11 teams in the field. The senior from
Cleveland, Tenn., covered the 5K course in 20:00.82.
Taylor, a sophomore from Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., cross the line in
11th place in 27:03.29 in the 8K event as the Tech men were 6th
among 11 teams for a 5-5 record.
"Overall I'm happy to have that first meet behind us, and give our
freshmen a chance to see what it's like to run in college," Cox
said. Five of Tech's 13 runners Saturday were rookies.
In the women's race, Mississippi State captured the team title
with five of the top 10 runners, led by Renee Masterson who
finished in 17:57.66. Her time was two seconds off the course
record set last year by Tech's Stephanie Place, which still stands.
Austin Peay, the only other Ohio Valley Conference school in the
meet, placed seventh.
"Tiffany started a little slowly, then kept improving her place as
the race went on," Cox said of Palmer's efforts in the race. "She
was somewhere around 20th after the first mile, so she ran a pretty
smart race."
Traci Jones, a sophomore from Aiken, S.C., was Tech's next
finisher, taking 31st place in 20:51.97. Another veteran, senior
Amanda Simmons from Woodstock, Ga., was third for Tech in
34th place with a time of 21:04.73.
Three freshmen rounded out Tech's lineup, led by Morgan Taylor
from Johnson City, Tenn. She placed 36th in 21:10.42. Kathryn
Forbes was 48th in 22:14.26, while Courtney Koehl ran a 24:37.93
for 62nd place.
"I thought Morgan (Taylor) had a good race," Cox said. "She
looked strong."
Mississippi State also won the men's team title. Austin Peay
placed seventh, one spot in back of the Golden Eagles.
"Sam (Taylor) ran a great race," Cox said. "He started
conservatively and then just passed people the entire race. All the
work he did this summer is going to pay off for him this year."
Freshman Chris Bishop from Morristown, Tenn., was second for the
Tech men's team, finishing in 18th place in 27:24.93.
"Chris looked strong and ran a really smart race," Cox said. "He
really impressed me the way he handled running in his first
collegiate race."
Senior Joseph DeLorenzo was 28th in 27:59.01, followed by senior
Peter Woerner in 37th place (28:45.91), freshman John Greene in
54th place (29:44.06), sophomore Daniel Flatt in 56th place
(29:54.13) and senior Jarrad Read in 57th place (30:01.92).
Tech has next weekend off, then returns to action on Sept. 19 at
the Vanderbilt Invitational.