Clayton State men prevail at Georgia Collegiate behind Berkhedle
 Laker women place 12th at Georgia Collegiate

MACON, Ga. – September 29, 2007 – The surge to the top continues for the Clayton State Laker men’s cross country team as the Lakers won their first meet since the 2005 Peach Belt Conference meet with the team championship on Saturday at the Georgia Collegiate Championship.

Clayton State won the meet with 72 points, eight points ahead of Berry (80) and 18 points ahead of Peach Belt rival Georgia College (90). Host Mercer finished fourth with 99 points in the 13-team field. On the women’s side, Clayton State finished 12th overall with 287 points.

Individually for the Laker men, freshman Walid Berkhedle continued his strong season with an overall second place finish in a time of 26:27 minutes. He placed two minutes off the pace of individual champion Nicolas Kering.

Overall, Clayton State had four runners place in the Top 20. Anthony Aguilar finished sixth in 17:13, while Joey Chino placed 12th in 27:37 and Au Nguyen finished 17th in 28:01. Rounding out the Clayton State scoring was Jarrid Casimir finishing 38th in 29:01 and Jeremy Adkins placed 93rd in 34:38.

"It was exciting to see the orange and blue well represented in the lead pack," said Clayton State head coach Mike Mead. "Walid continues to impress! He was too far behind the leader, but wore down the other two competitors close to him in the latter part of the race."

For the Laker women, freshman Chelsea Ellis continued her improvement, placing 21st in 20:34 in the 5K event. Terrica Hamilton finished 38th in 21:23, while Jennifer Rhodes placed 98th in 25:22. Rounding out the Laker runners were Isabelle Ahanotu in 102nd in 26:00, Jessica Baskerville placed 104 in 26:46, and Titisha Cochran finished 106th in 27:19.

Clayton State’s next meet is the Memphis Twilight next Saturday (Oct. 6).