KINGSVILLE ? The ACU men's cross country achieved a near-perfect score Saturday en route to the program's 18th straight Lone Star Conference championship at the L.E. Ramey Golf Course.
The Wildcats tallied 17 points as they had five of the top six placers in the 7,700-meter race. Junior Daniel Maina crossed the tape in a time of 23:32 to earn individual medalist honors. Cleophas Tanui and Julius Myango were close behind at 23:39 and 23:40, respectively. Texas A&M-Commerce junior Tyler Tyndell broke up the lead pack placing fourth in a time of 23:45. ACU's
Serge Gasore and LSC Freshman of the Year Charles White rounded out the
scoring runners for the champions in fifth and sixth place,
respectively.
Tarleton State University came out on top in a close race for second place with 77 points. Texas A&M-Commerce was third with 78 points while East Central University was fourth with 89 points. Angelo
State University (142), Cameron University (146), Eastern New Mexico
University (174), West Texas A&M (193) and Texas A&M-Kingsville
(270) rounded out the scoring teams.
In addition to the top six runners mentioned, TAMC's Cody Hughes and Robert Reed finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Tarleton's Jared McNeil came in ninth place and East Central's John Sutrick finished in 10th place. The top 10 runners all earned All-Lone Star Conference honors.
It was the 24th time and 18th consecutive year that Abilene Christian won the Lone Star Conference men's cross country title.
On
the women's side, ACU's Winrose Karunde won the individual title with
teammate Loice Cheboi finishing second over the 6,000-meter course.
Midwestern State University, however, placed five runners in the
top 20 and won its first LSC cross country championship, ending the ACU
women's streak at seven straight titles. The Wildcats finished in fifth behind Midwestern, West Texas A&M, East Central and Central Oklahoma.
Karunda easily won the race in a time of 21:39 and she was followed by Cheboi in a time of 22:15.
