PEORIA, Ill. - The fifth ranked Lady Texan and seventh ranked Texan
cross country teams performed better than their rankings this past
Saturday when the SPC women finished third and the men fourth at the
NJCAA cross country championships in Peoria, Illinois.
The Lady
Texans were able to leap past Region 5 rival and number two ranked El
Paso Community College and fourth ranked Cowley County with a strong
team showing, led by freshman Lisa Forsberg.
Forsberg completed the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 13 seconds to
finish in 23rd place overall. Kadian Dunkley was the next Lady Texan to
cross the line, finishing 31st with a time of 19:31 and was followed
closely by Paulina Wilson (34th) and Crystal Dickinson (35th). Wilson
and Dickinson nearly crossed the line at the same time, completing the
course in 19:35 and 19:36, respectively. Shayla Contreras was SPC's
final scoring runner, crossing the line 41st and finishing with a time
of 19:44.
Paulina Engfors (131st) also competed for the Lady Texans, finishing with a time of 21:28.
Tallam
Kipruto led the Texans with his 8th place finish overall, completing
the 8,000-meter course in 25:04. Kipruto was followed by Anthony
Pequeno and Mitchell Driver who both crossed the line in the top 20
with 14th and 16th place finishes. Pequeno finished with a time of
25:34, while Driver crossed the line in 25:41.
Freshman
Tomilee Lloyd (47th place) completed the course in 27:05 and Robert
Castanon rounded out the team scoring by crossing the line in 51st
place in a time of 27:15.
Dunkley, Wilson and Dickinson each
earned All-American honors on the women's side, while Kipruto, Pequeno
and Driver each earned All-American honors on the men's side. Foreign
born athletes earn All-American by finishing in the top 15 overall,
while U.S. born citizens must be one of the top 15 American finishers
to earn the award.
The Texans and Lady Texans will complete
their fall schedule next weekend when they travel to Overland Park,
Kansas to compete in the NJCAA half marathon championships on Saturday,
November 21st. The Texans are the defending champions in the event.
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