Seven Blue Raiders earn All-Sun Belt Cross Country honors The Blue Raiders set a school record for the most athletes to earn All-Sun Belt cross country honors at a single conference championship meet. Going into the October 31, 2009, championship, the most Blue Raider cross country runners, both male and female, to earn the honor in one meet was four, occurring in 2007 and 2008. However, the 2009 squads shattered the record with seven athletes (male and female) garnering the title. William Songock and Zamzam Sangau were awarded their third All-Sun Belt titles, and Festus Chemaoi and Isaac Biwott won their second awards. Marla Bailey, Jackie Serem and Chris Mason were first-time recipients.
2009 Sun Belt Conference Team Results
Men’s
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Middle Tennessee South Alabama UALR North Texas Troy Western Kentucky Florida Atlantic Arkansas State Louisiana-Monroe Florida International Louisiana
Women’s
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Western Kentucky 53 Middle Tennessee 65 North Texas 98 Florida Atlantic 103 UALR 141 Arkansas State 142 South Alabama 152 Troy 166 Louisiana-Monroe 229 Louisiana 239 Florida International 302
36 43 86 158 161 161 181 185 194 210 280
Women finish second at Sun Belt For the second season in a row, the Blue Raiders matched their best-ever finish at a conference championship meet, taking second at the 2009 Sun Belt Cross Country Championships. Led by senior Zamzam Sangau, the Blue Raiders recorded their lowest team score in the history of the program, 65. Sangau placed third overall on the 5,000-meter course in a time of 19:49.09, Marla Bailey finish fourth in 19:58.33, and Jackie Serem finished in seventh in 20:30.52. All there were honored all-conference runners. The ladies were defeated by defending 2008 Sun Belt Champion Western Kentucky, which recorded 53 points. Samantha Hunt’s 25th-place finish and Stephanie Smith’s 27th-place finish rounded out the MT five scoring runners with respective times of 22:05.26 and 22:14.98. Freshmen Alissa Ruggle, Amber Kassuba and Kayla Bryan ran in their first championships for the Blue Raiders. Along with Hunt and Smith, the five Middle Tennessee freshman gained valuable experience that will be important in the coming years.
51