OXFORD, Ala. – Jax State opened up the 2025 campaign with a stellar meet on Friday, taking home a team title, individual title and a new program best in the women's 5K. For the second consecutive season, the Jax State Men's Cross Country team won the first meet of the season at Choccolocco Park.

👑 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 👑

The Jax State Men take home the team title at the 2025 Foothills Invitational while the women take home second 👏

Mercy Jebet earned the individual title on the women's side with a new program record in the 5K 🥇#StayCocky 🐔 | #FearTheBeak 👌 pic.twitter.com/4prv9QgXd2
— Jax State XC/TF (@JaxStateXCTF) August 30, 2025
 

"I thought we had a really good effort from both teams," said Jax State Head Coach Jeremy Provence, "We focused on being together early and finishing late. Safe to say we executed the race plan well."

Mercy Jebet followed suit in the second race of the evening, being the first individual to cross the finish line in the women's 5K race. Jebet's time of 17:23.31 is the best 5K time in program history.

The top of the women's leaderboard featured two more Jax State freshman alongside Jebet, including Jepkirui Kurgoi in second and Viola Jepleting in fifth. Kurgoi and Jepleting posted the second and sixth best times in program history respectively.

Selina Planken and Charity Mabuza rounded out the top five finishers for Jax State in 19^th and 24^th with Olivia King, Naum Kibiwott, Maxima Majer and Lindsay Fletcher all also finishing in the top 50 individuals. Of the top four Gamecock finishers on Friday, are all freshmen.

"We have some things to work on in the next few meets, but I am excited about the progress we are making," said Provence, "The competitiveness we showed late today was great to see."

In the team standings, the women finished just behind Auburn and ahead of UAB, Samford, Troy among others.

The Jax State men tacked on a team victory at the Foothills Invitational for the second consecutive year, this year, edging out Auburn and Samford.

Jack Lowe was the top finisher for Jax State on the men's side, taking home fourth with the next four scorers coming in Nolan McGregor (8^th), Nelbat Kiprop Kirwa (10^th), Evan Allen (11^th), and Meshack Kosgei (13^th).

Stephen Billman, Augusto Caceres, Pai Wynyard and Tanner Rice all also clocked sub 16-minute times to help Jax State earn the team victory on its home course. Of Jax State's seven scorers, four are newcomers to the 2025 roster.

Out of 175 total participants, all 12 individuals for Jax State finished in the top 50.

Choccolocco Park also served as the site of the 2024 Conference USA Cross Country Championship. Jax State's next meet will be on Sept. 12 in Huntsville, Ala. at the Southern Showcase, the site of the 2025 CUSA Championship and NCAA South Regional.