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Southern Miss women, Ole Miss men Successfully Defend Team Titles at 22nd Annual Southern Miss Cross Country Invitational
HATTIESBURG, Miss.--The Southern Miss women and Ole Miss men cross country teams successfully defended their Southern Miss Cross Country Invitational titles, Friday, at the 22nd annual event.

The Lady Eagles placed five runners in the top 10 including the overall winner, scored 26 points, holding off Louisiana-Monroe, who finished second behind the Eagles with 37 points. Ole Miss women's team finished third with 104 points, followed by Centenary with 112, Louisiana Tech and Jackson State 115, each, and Mississippi Valley State 213, rounding out the university division. Spring Hill College won the women's college division with 32 points, defeating University Mobile with 37 points and Belhaven with 62.

The Ole Miss Rebels also placed five runners in the top 10, including the top two overall finishers, scoring team 20 points, followed by Louisiana-Monroe with 36, Jackson State had 79, Centenary had 91 and Mississippi Valley 126, to round out the university division. Spring Hill College scored 23 points, defeating Hinds with 35, in the college division.

Souther Miss' Janet Rono covered the 5k-course in a time of 17:59.16, followed by UL-Monroe's Rhonda Sherrer, who finshed second with a time of 18:25.95. The other Golden Eagle finishers included Keri White, who finished fourth with a time of 19:47.02, Rose Kurui, fifth at 20:08.53, Oby Amadi, eighth at 20:11.61, Jessica Crump, ninth at 20:37.19, Tomeka Shaffer, 15th at 21:25.54, and Karen Tankersley, 19th at 21:41.63. Julie London, of Mobile, was the top finisher in the college division with a time of 20:08.87.

Ole Miss' Hank Campbell and Chad Dixon finished one-two, in the 8K-race with times of 26:21.01 and 26:53.83, respectively. Spring Hill's Jeff Haruath was the top finisher in the college division with a time of 26:59.74.

Southern Miss returns to cross country action, Oct. 6, at the Pre-Regional meet in Birmingham, Ala.