FMU at Peach Belt Cross Country Championships on Saturday
Both the Francis Marion University men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the 18th Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championships, Saturday morning (Oct. 25) in Milledgeville, Ga.
The meet is being hosted by Georgia College & State University on the West Campus Course. The event begins with the men's 8,000-meter race at 9 a.m., followed by the women's 5,000-meter race at 9:45 a.m.
Following one of the most competitive regular seasons the conference has seen, several teams are in position to win the two team titles. The men's race will feature a battle of wills for both the team championship and the individual title. Columbus State is the two-time PBC men's champion and has won three of four meets this fall, including the PBC Pre-Conference Meet on the GCSU course back in September, an event that saw Francis Marion finish fifth.
In their last two outings, the Patriots have won the Presbyterian Collegiate and finished second at the NCAA Pre-Regional, and FMU has top-five finishes in all five races it has entered. Francis Marion will look to record its best team finish since the 1995 squad placed third, ironically the last time the meet was held in Milledgeville. No Patriot team has finished higher than fifth since then.
Junior Hillary Kiprop was named the PBC Runner of the Week three times this year and is a strong candidate to win the individual title on Saturday. The Eldoret, Kenya native won two races and finished second in two others this fall. Kiprop, fellow Kenyan Fidelis Mutiso of Clayton State University, and defending PBC individual champion Walid Berkhedle, also of Clayton State, are three of the favorites for the men's individual title.
David McIntosh is the only Patriot to have captured the individual title as he won the 1992 meet in Savannah, Ga.
The FMU men's runners on Saturday will include Kiprop, seniors Steven Holmes and Dan Brann, junior Adam Wilson, and sophomores Ben Miller, Bryson Robinson, and Jerry Roth.
Columbus State is the three-time defending champion in the women's team race. Clayton State's Allison Kreutzer, who has won all five of her races this fall, is the women's individual favorite. The senior All-American won the PBC Pre-Conference meet by 33 seconds and has been named the PBC Runner of the Week four times this year.
FMU senior Kelly May, who has earned PBC Runner of the Week honors twice after turning in two second-place and one third-place finish this year, will lead the Patriot runners. She has recorded a pair of sub-20 minute times and has been Francis Marion's top finisher in all five meets. May placed 13th at the 2006 meet, equaling the sixth-best showing ever by a Patriot in the women's race, and earned All-Conference honors.
The Patriot line-up will include May, juniors Amanda Booker, Amanda Doyle, Kim Richardson, and Holly Todd, and freshman Samantha Smith.
The PBC Championships will be followed by a 3,000-meter fun run that is open to the community for a $10 entry fee. All proceeds will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Admission to the PBC Cross Country Championships is free.
