UPDATED: Koyiaki and Kering Finish 1-2 as Cougars Impress at Mercer Invitational

Macon, GA - Columbus State's men's cross-country squad ventured to Macon on a hot, muggy day on Saturday to compete in the Mercer Invitational at the Georgia Children's Home Campus. The Cougar harriers were impressive in the 16-team field, with Meshack Koyiaki and Nicholas Kering taking the early lead and never relinquishing as they went on to a dominating 1-2 finish. That finish helped the Cougars to what was initially thought to be a second place finish, but later became the team's first win of the year.

Koyiaki ran a time of 24:57 to take his second individual win of the season, while Kering finished close behind at 25:28. They received strong support from their teammates as Nathan Prickett finished 14^th in 27:38, David Marley 16^th in 27:45 to give CSU four runners in the top 20. Stewart Helton finished 22^nd in 28:09, John Neill finished 29^th in 28:27 and Andy Henderson finished 36^th in 28:43 to put all CSU runners in the top 40 finishers. 

When the smoke cleared and the score was tallied CSU was the top Division II finisher in the field.  Kennesaw State was originally declared the overall winner of the meet, but a protest lodged because the Owls wore two distinctly different uniform among its runners was upheld and their score was disqualified. That ruling means the Cougars were also the overall meet winner, notching their first win of the 2009 season. The protest and ruling were not communicated to the Mercer sports information staff and incorrect results were published as official.

The Cougars will next be in action on October 10 with the men running at 9:00 AM and the women running at 9:30 AM in the annual Cougar Invitational. The meet will be held at the Smiths Station Sports Complex. For information call Coach JD Evilsizer 706-593-4255.