FLORENCE, Ala. (October 16, 2026) – The North Alabama cross country programs raced Friday morning at McFarland Park for the inaugural Kennemer Classic event. The UNA men's team placed third out of 12 competing schools with 68 points, while the women's team placed fifth out of 12 teams, collecting 109 points.
The men's team had six runners with season best times and seven runners with personal best times. The women's team had five runners with season best times and four runners with personal best times.
The event was named after legendary North Alabama administrator
Sherry Kennemer, who was a student-athlete and coach at UNA before embarking on a successful career in college athletics. She is currently the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Student Success at UNA.
Leading the way for the men's race was junior
Brian Bett. Bett placed third with an 8K time of 23:41.6. This was his season-best 8K time and the fourth-fastest 8K time in UNA school history. Bett also ran the fastest time by a UNA runner in McFarland Park course history.
Bett's fastest 8K time came in 2024 in his freshman season with a time of 23:26.4.
Following Bett was
Vincent Chepkwony running his season best, placing 12th and earning 11 points with a time of 25:32.6. Close behind was
Isiaah Krieger, placing 19th and earning 17 points with a time of 25:46.7.
Jack Gruber ran his season best 8K time of 25:48.4 to finish 20th. Rounding out the scoring five was freshman
Lincoln Smith with a personal best 8K time of 25:48.4.
For the women,
Sandra Maiyo ran an 18:49.8 5K time, placing 16th. This was Maiyo's season best 5K time. Following Maiyo was freshman
Lillie Meeks with a season best time of 19:17.5. Meeks placed 23rd, earning 18 points and showing tenacity with ample competition in the final stretch of the race.
Another freshman,
Alexis Renn, ran her personal best to finish 25th with a time of 19:26.1. Seniors Savannah and
Taylor Williams rounded out the scoring five with times of 19:39.1 and 19:54.4, respectively. Savannah ran her season best 5K time, as well.
Jacksonville State won both races with a score of 15 on the men's side and 24 on the women's side. On the men's side, UNA beat out a couple of Unisun Sports opponents in West Florida and fellow United Athletic Conference member Austin Peay.
"Today showed that we are closer to where we know we need to be for October 30th," said UNA head coach Connor Callahan. "It was good to see some of our freshman runners step up and run a personal best after a tough race last week at FSU. I was really excited for Lincoln and Josh. It was also great to see Alexis and Lillie run as well as they did today. We've really been looking for a race like that from them. I am excited where about where we are at right now as we head into the conference championship in two weeks."
The Lions will have two weeks to prepare for their next race, the UAC Championship. This race will be held in Richmond, Ky., where the preseason favorites, Eastern Kentucky will host.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
