AUBURN, Ala. - Sophomore Henry Rop led the Lions with a sixth-place finish and several other Lion runners posted personal records as the Southeastern Louisiana University men's and women's cross country teams left their mark on one of the most prestigious meets in the nation on Saturday.
"This is one of the three or four biggest races in the nation this year," assistant coach Michael Bartolina said of Saturday's Tiger Invitational hosted by Auburn. "Henry ran a tremendous race, and we had a few other runners post personal best marks. When you can do that in a field like this, that's a very good sign. Today's race should give a big confidence boost as we continue to prepare for the conference meet."
Sophomore Kalphys Kemboi was on pace for a top ten finish, but a late injury forced Kemboi to withdraw and made Rop's time of 23:17.41 on the 8K course the top Lion finish of the day.
Sophomore Nelphat Boit was second on the Southeastern men's side with a personal best mark of 24:30.65 that bettered his previous best by more than a minute. However, the most impressive performances of the day may have belonged to junior Zack Dufrene and freshman MJ Ahmad who each destroyed their previous personal bests by more than two minutes. Ahmad clocked in at 27:50.48 and Dufrene finished 4.2 seconds behind at 27:54.50.
"They really rose to the occasion," Bartolina said. "We already knew what our top two or three guys can do, but to have performances like that really bodes well for the conference meet."
On the women's side, the Lady Lions put together an impressive performance despite being shorthanded. Southeastern entered the race missing freshman Esther Kemboi, who was out with an illness, as well as freshman Katherine Cade who was attending to a death in her family. After the start of the race, senior Everlyne Matonyei's knee injury flared up, forcing the Lions to miss out on a potential top-20 finish.
"We only had five girls today and one had to drop out, so we didn't get a team score," Bartolina said. "We need to get everyone healthy and then we should be in good shape, but I was pleased with how a lot of our girls ran today."
Leading the way was sophomore Dorcus Kapkiai turned in her third straight strong performance with a time of 17:59.24, a personal best for a 5K course.
The Lions and Lady Lions will return to action when they head to Clinton, Miss. for the Mississippi College Invitational next Saturday for their final pre-Southland Conference meet tune-up.