The Auburn men's and women's cross-country teams traveled to Tuscaloosa for the annual Crimson Classic Saturday.
Both men's and women's teams finished in fourth place, while senior Holly Knight won the individual title in the women's 5K, and junior Ben Cheruiyot finished third in the men's 8K.
"It was a very good day for both teams," said head coach Mark Carroll. "Fourth-place finishes for both in a very tough competition on a very hot day is very good."
The men started the Classic at 8:45 a.m. with an 8K run, followed by the women in a 5K at 9:15 a.m.
Knight ran a 16:59.30 5K to start her senior season with a win.
"It was a great win for Holly," Carroll said. "She opened her season with a strong win and a very fast time today. Hopefully, she builds from here and gets back to where she was when she was competing at the NCAA's."
After finishing in the top 20 in every race last season, Ben Cheruiyot ran a 23:55.00 to finish third, right behind senior Meshack Koyiaki from Columbus State and Ole Miss senior Barnabas Kirui.
"The men's race was very fast," Carroll said. "The opening group took the race out very fast, and Ben went right with it and had a very good opening race of the season."
Auburn finished behind Texas A&M, Alabama and Samford in the women's race, but was able to beat conference rival Ole Miss.
The Alabama Crimson Tide won the men's 8K, led by junior Carison Kemei.
On the men's side, both freshman Colin Barker and junior Jeffrey Sanders had top-25 finishes.
Barker finished 10th with a time of 25:08.80, while Sanders had a time of 25:23.90.
Sanders finished the race 15th.
"Colin ran a great race today," Carroll said. "He opened his season with a great finish in a tough, fast race."
Notables for the women's team include senior Stephanie Barnes, freshman Elizabeth Briasco and senior Allison Smith.
All three Tigers finished the day with a top-25 finish.
"Stephanie had a great race today," Carroll said. "She ran really well for us, and Elizabeth had a great finish for it to be her freshman year. All of the ladies did very well and were about as good as we could expect."
The Tigers travel to Memphis for the Brooks Memphis Twilight Cross-Country Classic Saturday.
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