Oct. 14, 2011

Complete Men's Results

Complete Women's Results

Complete Women's "B" Results

TUCSON -In the most competitive field of the season, freshman Lawi Lalang, a University of Arizona Wildcat cross country freshman, dominated the field yet again. He and his teammates competed at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational in Madison on Friday. Lalang won the men's 8K race by 15 seconds and sophomore Elvin Kibet was the top finisher on the women's side in 12th place.

"Lawi (Lalang) showed he's in a class of his own today," head coach James Li said. "I don't think tactically he was the most sound, he's just so much stronger than everybody else. He did a great job and had a convincing win. You have to think he's one of the leading runners in the nation."

"This is a break though year for Elvin (Kibet) and Jen (Bergman)," Li said. "To finish in the top 15 at a race of this caliber, it really gave me the indication they are both All-America material. Finishing third in this meet is a big deal for our team. It's a really good accomplishment. We beat some great teams. Our sixth runner, Hanna Henson, ran the race of her life and was 90th so that was a great run. Elizabeth Apgar came on really strong at the end and Haley Stenquist is just unbelievable as a true freshman. Today was a really great team effort and that sets us up well for the NCAA Championships."

The women's team earned a third-place finish with 230 points in the field of 44 teams. No. 24 Washington with 199 points was first and unranked Vanderbilt was second with a score of 211. The 14th-ranked UA squad finished ahead of No. 1 Villanova, No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 10 California, No. 12 Oregon, No. 9 Iowa State, No. 7 New Mexico, No. 13 North Carolina and No. 2 Providence - nine teams ranked ahead of the Wildcats in the current U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association national poll. Villanova senior Sheila Reid won the individual race in a time of 19:59.4.

Lalang picked up his third-straight win and third-straight course record of the season. He finished the 8,000-meter race in a time of 23:10.8. He crushed the previous course and meet record of 23:29.0 set by Donn Cabral of Princeton on Oct. 2, 2010. Lalang topped second-place finisher Ryan Hill of N.C. State by 15 seconds, also the second-place finisher to Lalang's win at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 24.

"I'm really happy with my performance today," Lalang said. "I just broke out from the beginning and ran a fast first mile. When I start building a lead and they don't keep up it gives me confidence and I just push even harder."

Kibet was the top finisher on the women's side for the Wildcats. She earned a 12th-place finish in the 6,000-meter race with a time of 20:21.1. Junior Jen Bergman was UA's second runner with her 15th-place finish. She clocked a time of 20:25.1.

"Today, I was like `Oh my gosh, 44 teams, this is going to be hard'," Kibet said. "I went out there ready to run with the lead pack and tried to hang on for the first 5K. I wanted to push as hard as possible towards the end and that's what I did. I'm very happy with my race today."

Freshman Haley Stenquist was Arizona's third finisher in 53rd place overall and a fourth-place finish among freshmen competitors. She clocked a 6K time of 20:57.2. Junior Elizabeth Apgar was the fourth finisher with a time of 21:06.3 in 73rd place. Sophomore Amanda Russell rounded out the scoring five in 77th place with a time of 21:07.7.

Senior Hanna Henson and freshman Stephanie Bulder were Arizona's sixth and seventh runners, respectively, in the "A" race. Henson clocked a time of 21:11.6 for a 90th-place finish and Bulder ran a 21:50.4 for a 193rd-place finish.

Arizona also had three women finish in the top 30 of the "B" race. Sophomore Erin Menefee was fourth with a 6,000-meter time of 21:30.9. Freshman Nicci Corbin was sixth with a time of 21:35.6. Junior Melanie McGrath was 30th with a time of 22:08.6.

On the men's side, Arizona finished 36th in the team race. No. 2 Wisconsin won with 66 points, No. 6 BYU was second with 120 points and No. 4 Stanford rounded out the top three teams with 125 points.

Sophomore Patrick Zacharias was UA's second finisher in 141st place. He clocked an 8K time of 25:03.1. Freshman Thomas Valente finished 240th with his time of 26:16.0. Freshman Kenji Bierig was 251st with a run of 26:35.8. Redshirt freshman Sam Macaluso rounded out the Arizona scoring five in 261st place with a time of 27:22.1.

Freshman Dylan Souza finished 262nd as Arizona's sixth runner. He clocked a time of 27:39.2. Junior Rory McLeod started but did not finish the race.

The Wildcats will run next at the Pac-12 Championships, Sat., Oct. 29, in Litchfield Park, Ariz., hosted by Arizona State.