The Ole Miss Men’s Cross-Country team won its first-ever SEC Championship after placing five runners in the top 11 spots during the men’s 8K race. The team finished with a final score of 36, beating the reigning Arkansas champs by eight.
The Ole Miss Women’s Cross-Country team finished third in the women’s 6K race having four runners in the top 25 places and finishing with a score of 116. This is the team’s third straight year with a top three spot at the SEC Championships.
Members of the Mens Cross Country team celebrate on Friday after winning their first SEC championship in school history. Photo courtesy: Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics
“It’s definitely an exciting time to be an Ole Miss Rebel,” coach Ryan Vanhoy said.
The No. 21 men’s team surpassed the poor conditions and the loss of sophomore Michael Coccia, due to him losing his shoe mid-race, on its way to ending Arkansas’ cross-country dynasty SEC championship streak at eight wins.
Sophomore Waleed Suliman was the Rebels’ ace, finishing in fourth. Junior Farah Abdulkarim and freshman duo Cade Bethmann and Mario Garcia Romo joined Suliman in the top 10 finishing sixth, seventh and eighth in the race, respectively. Senior Mark Robertson rounded out the Rebels’ top five, finishing 11th and securing the 36 points that would give the Rebels the victory. The top five all finished with mile splits of 4:40 or lower with Suliman having the best split at 4:37.
The men’s runners all set individual personal records for time. Suliman, Bethmann and Garcia Romo all were given Men’s First-team All-SEC honors, while Abdulkarim and Robertson were awarded Men’s Second-team All-SEC. Bethmann and Garcia Romo were also on the Men’s SEC All-Freshman team.
This is the school’s first-ever title in cross-country, and Ole Miss owes much of this victory to coach Vanhoy, who has turned both the men’s and women’s teams into contenders.
“The hardest championship is always the first,” Vanhoy said. “You don’t know how to win until you win. Now that we’ve gotten one under our belts and we’ve got this experience, we know what it feels like to win and what it feels like to actually be able to win. I think this will be a big difference-maker as this group continues on into the future.”
The women’s team had all five scorers place in the top 35 and saw four of its top five set new personal records in the race. The team’s scorers had sub 5:30 average mile times, with sophomore Clio Ozanne-Jaques posting a 5:18 average mile time. She also made the Women’s Second-team All-SEC.
Waleed Suliman and Ben Savino celebrate on Friday after the Ole Miss Cross Country team won the first SEC championship in school history. Photo courtesy: Petre Thomas/Ole Miss Athletics
Behind Ozanne-Jaques for the Rebels were junior Maddie McHugh, sophomore Maddie King, freshmen Lisa Vogelgesang and Ylvi Traxler rounding Ole Miss’s top five.
Vogelgesang made the Women’s SEC All-Freshman team and finished fourth for the Rebels and 25th overall in the women’s 6K.
Both teams are looking to turn these excellent performances into good results at the NCAA South Regional, hosted in Tallahassee, Florida on Friday, Nov. 9. If both teams earn qualification for the NCAA Championships at the regional, then the teams will head to Madison, Wisconsin on Nov. 17 to compete for a national title.
