OXFORD, Miss. – Sophomore Kristie Krueger finished fourth to lead the Georgia women to a fourth-place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championships on the Ole Miss Golf Course in Oxford, Miss, on Saturday morning.

The Georgia men left their 8K course with a fifth-place finish behind senior Bejan Abtahi’s 21st-place finish. This was the Bulldogs’ best finish since also taking fifth in 2006. Alabama (56) won the men’s race as Arkansas (61) finished second, Auburn (86) took third and Florida (120) was fourth.

Sophomore Brett Richardson, who transferred from Georgia State but only ran track for the Panthers, and freshman Bill Matthews were named to the All-SEC Freshman team for the Bulldogs.

On the women’s side, Florida (24) won while Tennessee (80) and Arkansas (87) finished ahead of the Lady Bulldogs (118), respectively. This was the exact same finish the Georgia women had in 2008, despite losing All-Americans Natalie Picchetti and Sarah Madebach to graduation.

“I take these finishes as our crew combining to finish four and a half so I thought our kids did an amazing job today,” said cross country coach Jeff Pigg. “For the guys, it is good to see this group have success. They have sacrificed and put in the work over the last year and I think this is a good starting point for people in the SEC and beyond to see that we are turning this thing in the right direction.”

Krueger clocked a 21:17.80 in the 6K race to lead Georgia. This was a 38-place improvement from her freshman finish. Senior Bridget Lyons, who is a co-captain with Krueger, was the Lady Bulldogs’ second finisher after taking 11th (21:45.03). Lyons was 33rd at the 2008 meet.

“Kristie was not playing around today,” Pigg said. “She came in with confidence in herself and it was fun to watch her roll with that top elite pack. Kristie rebounded from a sickness earlier in the year and had a great meet at Notre Dame and now she knows she belongs with the lead group every race.”

Junior Kylie Foley, who was the Lady Bulldogs’ top finisher last season, finished 25th overall with a time of 22:26.30. Finishing fourth for Georgia was senior Taylor Adams. Adams, who is primarily a middle-distance runner, took 40th (22:54.49) after she crossed the finish line in 54th last year. Freshman Allyson McGinty took 42nd to be the Lady Bulldogs’ final scorer after clocking a 22:58.63.

“As far as Bridget goes, her goal before the race was top seven, which encouraged me to hear a former walk-on say that before a race of this caliber,” Pigg said. “Her improvement has been significant and I have been excited to see her continued improvement. This whole group of girls was solid.”

After sitting out the 2008 season, Abtahi had the best finish of his career at an SEC meet after taking 21st (25:39.87) for the Bulldog men. Senior Dustin Tetley, who joins Abtahi as the team captains, was 25th overall after registering a time of 25:54.98 on the course. The Bulldogs’ third scorer was Matthews, who brought home All-SEC Freshman honors after clocking a 25:58.66 for 27th place.

Georgia’s final two scorers were sophomore Matt Cleaver (28th – 25:59.24) and Richardson (32nd – 26:03.43), who was Georgia’s second All-SEC Freshman performer.

Georgia returns to action at the NCAA Regional Championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 14.

- Georgia Sports Communications