Thursday, October 06, 2011

MACON, Ga. – Kennesaw State increased its lead in the men's cross country coaches poll by two points over Belmont in the October 5th poll. ETSU jumped two spots past North Florida and USC Upstate to take third in the poll. The Spartans fell two spots to No. 5.

Only 23 days remain until the 2011 Atlantic Sun Cross Country Championship in Nashville, Tenn. This weekend only two teams compete with FGCU at the Disney World Classic and Stetson competing in the Asics Embry-Riddle Classic.

Cross Country Notes:
• USC Upstate's Gilbert Kemboi placed second at the Charlotte Invitational on September 30th with a time of 24:14 in the 5K race. His performance won him the A-Sun Runner of the Week honor for the eighth time in his career, which set the conference record. He broke a tie with Kenneth Rotich (2006-09) from ETSU by claiming his second honor of the season. The top-four all-time consists of Kemboi (8), Rotich (6), Belmont's William Kemey (6) and Kennesaw State's Scott Burley (5).

• The Atlantic Sun picked up three meet wins over the past weeks with Lipscomb winning twice and North Florida claiming one meet title. The Bisons finished first at the Greater Louisville Classic Blue Race on October 1st and also claimed the Chattanooga Festival on September 24th. The Ospreys placed first at the FLRunners.com Invitational, which featured two other A-Sun teams.

• Five teams have earned A-Sun Runner of the Week honors in the past four seasons. Kennesaw State and USC Upstate are tied for the lead with eight weekly awards each, while ETSU has picked up the award four times. Lipscomb and Belmont both have two in the past four seasons.

• Kennesaw State, Belmont, ETSU and North Florida all appeared in this week's USTFCCCA South Region Rankings on Monday. The Owls appeared in the poll for the first time since the preseason at No. 11 and was followed by the Bruins at No. 12, Bucs at No. 13 and Ospreys at No. 15.