Wildcats Set for Start of Postseason Competition at the 2026 SEC Championships
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats are set to open postseason competition on Friday morning at the 2026 SEC Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Mo. at the Gans Creek XC Course.
The 2026 SEC Cross Country Championships will kick off at 11:08 a.m. ET with the running of the women’s 6k race, followed by the men’s 8k race at 11:45 a.m. ET.
Last season at the 2025 SEC Championships, Kentucky placed eighth in both the men’s and women’s finals with Ed Bird finishing atop the Wildcats’ team leaderboard in 17th and Doricah Minsari Isoe leading the women’s team with a 12th-place finish.
In their most recent meet, the Wildcats placed 10th in the women’s 6k and 23rd in the men’s 8k at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind. on Oct. 16. Sophomore Ann Lemirisho led the Wildcats on the leaderboard for the third consecutive race, placing third with a time of 19:16.8. Minsari Isoe featured as the second Wildcat to finish inside the top 10 with a seventh-place finish at 19:28.6.
Lemirisho and Minsari Isoe have finished with the top two times in each of the Wildcats first three races this season, including finishing first and second at the Tennessee Invitational in the season opener.
In the subsequent men’s 8k race, Bird finished atop the Wildcats’ team leaderboard in fifth place with a time of 23:21.0. Collins Kiprop Kipngok was the second Wildcat to cross the finish line in 31st at 23:48.1
Kentucky features as one of 14 programs competing in the men’s 8k final, while all 16 SEC teams will be competing in the women’s 6k race.
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