Florida's Kelvin Cheruiyot was named SEC Men’s Runner of the Week after finishing sixth at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Oct. 9. [Photo courtesy of Gators Athletics]

Seven Runners Named All-SEC for Florida Cross Country

Seven athletes from Florida’s women’s and men’s cross country teams were named All-SEC for their performances in the SEC Championships on Friday, the conference announced Monday.

Individual champion Kelvin Cheruiyot and Eliud Muchiri were named All-SEC from the Florida men’s team.

Desma Chepkoech, Judy Chepkoech, Caroline Jepchirchir, Maggie McCormick and Claire Stegall earned the honors on the women’s team.

The SEC Championships were hosted at Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri. Florida’s women’s team placed second overall with 80 points and the men’s team finished third with 82.

Cheruiyot set the course record, clocking in at 22:03.1 (8K). He was named First Team All-SEC for the second consecutive year after repeating as individual champ.

“Everything was perfect,” Cheruiyot said after Friday’s win. “The weather was perfect. It wasn’t that hard.”

Muchiri was named All-SEC second team and all-freshman honors. He finished 11th overall Friday with a time of 22:40.5. There were 103 runners who finished the course.

Judy Chepkoech finished fourth overall for the women’s race, running a 19:00.7 (6K). Stegall finished less than two seconds later for sixth overall with a time of 19:02.4. Both Chepkoech and Stegall earned first-team honors.

Desma Chepkoech finished 16th overall and was named third team.

McCormick and Jepchirchir finished 23rd and 36th, respectively, for all-freshman honors. There were 148 athletes who finished the course.

The Gators’ cross country teams will compete in the NCAA South Regional Championship in Tallahassee on Nov. 13.

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Cross Country, SEC