CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's and women's cross country teams swept the season-opening PowerAde Invitational along the banks of the Tennessee River at the Moccasin Bend Race course.
In the shadow of Lookout Mountain, the women's team placed four runners in the Top 10 led by senior Anneli Uys to finish with 41 points, just two ahead of Middle Tennessee. Uys finished the two-mile course in a time of 11:24 behind Kennesaw State's McKenzie Howe who just missed the 11-minute mark with a time of 11:01. Senior Tara Gietema was the Lady Mocs second finisher in fifth with a time of 11:53.
Senior Shelley Taylor placed seventh for Chattanooga with a time of 11:54 followed by sophomore Kathryn Stuart's 10th place finish at 11:58. Senior Lauren Anderson rounded out the scoring runners with a time of 12:11 followed by sophomore Heather Stuive with a time of 12:15.
Middle Tennessee finished second with 43 points led by Deanna Brasz in third and Carolyne Tanui in sixth. Lipscomb placed third in the team results led by Lacey Printz in eighth place while Alabama-Huntsville was fourth with 109 points led by Jennifer Cherono in fourth place. Kennesaw State was fifth, Austin Peay placed sixth followed by Covenant College in seventh and Tennessee State in eighth.
In the men's race, the Mocs placed all five runners in the Top Eight with 21 points led by senior Emmanuel Kirwa. Kirwa finished second overall with a time of 15:19 behind Middle Tennessee State's Festus Chemaoi (15:12). The Blue Raiders finished just four runners and did not figure into the scoring.
Kirwa was the top scoring runner to finish with sophomore transfer Nathan Wanuch finishing third with a time of 15:36 followed by Lucas Cotter in fourth at 15:40. Junior Joshue Vasquez placed fifth in the race with a time of 15:50. Senior David Moore rounded out the scoring for the Mocs with an eighth place finish in a time of 16:03.
Kennesaw State, led by Nathan Haskins in second, finished behind UTC with 38 points. Ryan Burruss finished sixth for the Owls while Piotr Witzack was ninth. Austin Peay finished third led by Enock Langat in seventh. Alabama, the No. 5 team in the country, did not run its top athletes and placed fourth paced by Austin Duckworth. Lipscomb was fifth followed by UAH in sixth and Covenant College was seventh.
The Mocs will return to action next Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Commodore Classic hosted by Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. The race is set to start at 10 a.m.