CLINTON, Miss. – Southeastern Louisiana senior Henry Rop picked up his third straight individual victory, leading the Lions to a team win at the Choctaw Open. The meet, hosted by Mississippi College, also saw the Southeastern women take second place.
Saturday’s performance gives Southeastern plenty of momentum heading into the Southland Conference Championships, which will be held on Oct. 28 in Beaumont, Texas.
Rop needed 19:39.24 to complete the four mile course, beating out Louisiana-Monroe’s Moses Chelimo by less than three seconds. Rop also crossed the line first at the Azalea City Classic and LSU Invitational. He skipped the McNeese State Stampede.
Four other Lions also earned top 10 placements. Freshman Joseph LeGrange took fourth place (21:24.71), followed by senior Reese Lee in seventh (21:37.85), sophomore Scott Richardson in eighth (21:49.10) and freshman Paul Arthur in 10th (21:54.39).
The men’s team edged Louisiana-Monroe for the triumph. Ole Miss, Nicholls and Jackson State made up the rest of the top five.
“The men had a great race,” assistant coach Ryan Bourque said. “Those were the kind of performances we were hoping to see from our guys. From top to bottom, they’re starting to gel together and be the kind of competitive group we envisioned.”
Senior Naomi Jeruto led the Lady Lions again, this time with a ninth place effort. She covered 5K in 18:53.04. Senior Whitney Curry was close behind, placing 13th, with a time of 19:16.63.
Ole Miss earned the women’s team title, followed by Southeastern, Louisiana-Monroe, Jackson State and Alcorn State.
“Our women made some big strides,” Bourque said. “Heather Fitzhenry (19:38.15) and Lindsey Toups (19:49.84) set personal records. We’re starting to see the results from our hard work and realize that we’re a very good team.”