Boit Crowned SEC Champion!

AUBURN, Ala. – The No. 20 Arkansas men’s cross country team had three runners finish in the top-10 at the Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championships en route to a runner-up finish at the SEC Cross Country Championships Friday morning.

“First off, hats off to Ole Miss, they had a great meet today,” said head coach Chris Bucknam. “They had five guys who ran really well from start to finish. We had a tough go out there today, but we’ve got a few more races to run here over the next few weeks. I’m really proud of our guys and how they competed.”

“Gilbert ran phenomenal,” Bucknam continued. “He was on another planet today, he looked comfortable the whole way through. I’m really proud of him, he’s put in a lot of work. This is his first SEC meet and he looked really good, hopefully, we can keep that momentum with him as we progress towards the NCAA Championships.”

Setting the pace out front was Gilbert Boit who became the fifth Razorback over the last eight seasons to bring home the individual conference title joining Eric Fernandez, Kemoy Campbell, Stanley Kebenei, and most recently Alex George. Boit crossed the line in 22:20.13 ahead of Alabama’s Alfred Chelanga (22:27.6).

“I’m so excited about today’s race,” said Boit. “I felt over the last 2K that I could win this thing, and I tried to push through to the finish. I’m so proud of these guys. They are always there for me, and always there for the team. We fell short some points, but there’s always next time, and I know we can get it done at regionals and nationals. I’m so proud of these guys and all the coaches, we have been doing a lot of work, and I know in two or three weeks time it is going to pay off,” Boit finished.

Cameron Griffith and Ryan Murphy finished third and ninth, respectively. Ethan Moehn finished with a time of 23:22.63, while Graham Brown – the Razorbacks’ No. 5 – was shortly behind at 23:33.11.

“Cameron ran a very good race today as well,” said Bucknam. “He was our number one runner at Penn State two weeks ago, third-overall today, yet I believe his best race is still out there. He is in great shape. Murph really put together a great race today! Anytime you can step into a high-pressure race like the SEC meet as a freshman and finish in the top-10, that’s pretty impressive in my book. [Murphy] had a lot of guys breathing down his neck the whole race, he hung in there big time.  He is a real competitor. Ethan ran outstanding today for a 14th place, all-conference finish. It’s his best finish in four years, improving each and every year. He’s looking forward to running the final cross country race of his career in his home state of Wisconsin next month if we take care of business at regionals in two weeks. He has been a great leader for us all season,” Bucknam finished.

All-SEC Teams
First Team (Finishers 1-7)
Gilbert Boit
Cameron Griffith

Second Team (Finishers 8-14)
Ryan Murphy
Ethan Moehn

All-Freshman Team (Top seven freshmen finishers)
Ryan Murphy

Arkansas will take a two-week break from action before returning to the course Nov. 9 in College Station, Texas for the NCAA South Central Regional.

For more information on Arkansas Cross Country including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.