Men Take Second, Women Take Third at Choctaw Open

 CLINTON, Miss. – Junior Moses Chelimo took second place to lead the ULM cross country teams on Saturday (Oct. 16) in the Choctaw Open, hosted by Mississippi College. The Warhawk men earned a second place team finish while the ULM women took third. 

Chelimo finished second in the men’s four mile event with a time of 19:50.75, just over 10 seconds behind first-place Henry Rop of Southeastern Louisiana (19:39.24). Daniel Mutai was just behind Chelimo in third with a time of 20:09.43. Senior Jorel Torres gave the Warhawks three top-10 finishers as he crossed the line in a time of 21:51.70 to earn ninth. Senior Seth Hall and sophomore Devin Caldwell each finished in the top-20, Hall earned 12th in 22:12.05 while Caldwell finished in 22:30.37 to take 16th. Freshman Jacob Heckford finished in 26th with a time of 23:34.41.

In the team competition, the ULM men scored 42 points to finish just behind first-place Southeastern Louisiana who scored 31 points. Ole Miss was third with 67 points, Nicholls State was fourth with 100, Jackson State scored 132 to take fifth and Alcorn State had 138 for sixth. 

Robertson was the top ULM women’s finisher, taking 12th place with a time of 19:14.67. Two more Warhawks were closely behind Robertson as junior Denise Myers claimed 14th in 19:35.87 and sophomore Tyler Blacklock took 15th place, clocking in with a time of 19:36.87. ULM’s fourth finisher was sophomore Lauren Rosson, she traversed the 5K course in a time of 20:33.02 to earn 22nd place. Sophomore Ariana Jones claimed 27th with a time of 20:56.30.

The Warhawk women took third-place among Division I teams competing in the meet with a score of 70 points. Ole Miss took first-place, scoring 15 points; Southeastern Louisiana was just ahead of ULM with 58 points. Jackson State finished fourth with 116 and Alcorn State was fifth with 126 points. 

ULM will now have a week off before competing in the Sun Belt Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Oct. 30, in Bowling Green, Ky., hosted by Western Kentucky.