Alabama Makes Big Jump In Poll

The University of Alabama men’s cross country team jumped nine spots from No.17 last week to No. 8 in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. It is believed to be the highest in season ranking for the Tide in recent memory.

For the first time in school history Alabama is ranked ahead of Arkansas in the polls. The Hogs have won 33 consecutive conference titles, including 16 straight since joining the Southeastern Conference.

Alabama remains as the No. 1 team in the South Regional for the third consecutive week. The Tide had a very impressive showing against the top teams in the country at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on the campus of the University of Oregon.

The then No. 17 ranked Tide turned in a third place finish behind host team No. 3 Oregon and No. 1 Wisconsin. Alabama finished ahead of No. 6 UTEP (finished sixth), No. 11 Portland (finished fourth), No. 21 UCLA (finished fifth), No. 22 Cal Poly (finished eighth) and No. 30 Washington (finished seventh).

The SEC also noticed the Tide’s performance from this past weekend honoring sophomore Emmanuel Bor as the SEC Male Runner of the Week and freshman Andrew Kirwa as the SEC Freshman Runner of the Week.

Bor finished third in the race with a time of 23:36 over the 8k course. He was in the hunt for the individual title but was out-sprinted in the last 100 meters to finish third.

He was honored twice last season as the SEC Runner of the Week.

Kirwa finished 17th at the Dellinger Invitational, but was second among freshmen with his time of 23:54. It is the second time in three weeks he has been honored by the SEC as Freshman of the Week.

The Tide will take this weekend off before competing at the NCAA Pre-Nationals race on October 13, in Terre Haute, Ind. That event will take place on the same course as the NCAA Championship in November.