Men's cross country places 31st, Boit in top 20 with new school record at Pre-Nationals

By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information

LOUISVILLE – Tennessee Tech received a preview of November's NCAA Championships during its appearance at the adidas® Pre-National Invitational, hosted by the University of Louisville on Saturday morning.

Tech totaled 765 points, placing 31^st in the men's seeded 8k race at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park, the future site of the 2017 NCAA Division I National Championship.

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (men's red seeded 8k) – full standings

1. BYU (41 points) – No. 2 in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll
2. Colorado (118 points) – No. 7 in the Coaches' Poll
3. Oregon (129 points) – No. 8 in the Coaches' Poll
4. Virginia Tech (148 points) – No. 12 in the Coaches' Poll
5. Ole Miss (193 points) – No. 24 in the Coaches' Poll
6. Utah State (312 points) – No. 27 in the Coaches' Poll
7. Texas (317 points) – No. 2 in the South Central Region
8. Campbell (340 points) – No. 6 in the Southeast Region
9. Arkansas (347 points) – No. 5 in the Coaches' Poll
10. Liberty (383 points) – No. 10 in the Southeast Region

"I'm very proud of how our men raced today," said head coach Wayne Angel. "We had personal bests from Boit, Cheplak, Kipkirui, Vohn, Mohamed and Daugherty.

"As a team, we gained valuable experience from running against the best teams in the country. We've still got some tweaking to do before OVCs, but I am confident that we will be ready when the time comes."

Gilbert Boit earned a spot in the top 20, finishing 19^th in 23:29.6, a new career-best time by 30.1 seconds. With that, he smashed his own 8k school record of 23:59.70, which he set last October at the Greater Louisville Classic. Boit's time was the fastest among all male OVC runners in 8k races this weekend.

Brannon Cheplak followed in 96^th with a time of 24:27.5, another career-best. He now stands as sixth-fastest in Tech's all-time bests for the 8k. Sammy Kipkirui was next in 161^st place, timing a career-best 24:57.9, while Benard Sigei placed 250^th with a time of 25:51.0.

Hannes Vohn and Ababu Mohamed finished one spot apart with another pair of career-best times, as Vonn placed 266^th in 26:10.8 and Mohamed finished 268^th in 26:13.0.

Joshua Daugherty rounded out the Tech contingent in 282^nd place, timing 27:43.9, which is also a career-best.

"It was a great team effort," said Angel. "We were able to defeat some Power Five schools."