Berkhedle finishes in the Top 30 at Brooks Memphis Twilight
Laker men finish 25^th, Laker women place 33^rd at rare night event

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – October 6, 2007 – Rarely do cross country meets occur at night, but the Clayton State Laker men’s and women’s cross country team competed in one on Saturday at the Brooks Memphis Twilight.

The Laker men placed 25^th in the 42-team field with 696 points, while the Clayton State women placed 33^rd out of 41 teams with 1,012 points. The meet consisted of teams from a variety levels, ranging from NCAA Division I to NAIA.

Individually for Clayton State, freshman Walid Berkhedle continued his stellar run by finishing 28^th overall out of 341 runners with a time of 25:32.70 minutes in the 8K event. It was the fourth-fastest time ever for a Clayton State runner in an 8K event, and Berkhedle shattered the Laker freshman 8K record which was previously held by his older brother Adil Berkhedle.

Berkhedle was third-highest Division II finisher in the meet.

In addition to Berkhedle, Anthony Aguilar finished 149^th overall with a time of 27:30.86, followed by Au Nguyen in 181^st with a time of 28:05.09. Jarrid Casimir finished 235^th with a time of 29:04.05, while Joey Chino placed 245^th in 29:18.47 and Jeremy Adkins finished 328^th in 35:24.97.

For the Laker women, Chelsea Ellis placed 157^th out of 329 runners in the 5K event in a time of 21:01.03, followed by Terrica Hamilton in 168^th in 21:09.49. Isabelle Ahanotu placed 305^th in a time of 26:23.24, while Titisha Cochran placed 313^th in 27:35 and Jessica Baskerville finished 323^rd in 29:15.93.

Next up for the Lakers is the Peach Belt Conference Championships in Augusta on Oct. 20.