Cross Country Teams See Split Squad Action
The East Central University men's and women's cross country teams split their squad to attend two meets on Saturday. One competed in the Dallas Baptist Old Glory Gallop while the other traveled to the Oklahoma Baptist University Invitational.
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Dallas Baptist Old Glory Gallop
DBU Men and Women Results
As a team, the men placed second out of 15 teams with 40 points while the women finished eighth out of 16 teams with 222 points.
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In the men's 8k, the Tigers had four runners place in the top ten.
Oliver Kiptoo led the team with a time of 23:48.1 good for a second place finish out of 157 runners and
Amos Pkiach was close behind in third place at 24:07.5. Kiptoo and Pkiach both beat the old 8k record which was set a few weeks ago in Arkansas by
Amos Pkiach.
Melvin Kipkemboi finished seventh with a time of 24:32.9.  Michael Iyali rounded out the strong ECU effort by crossing the line at 24:48.0 to place ninth.
"Just as we did at Arkansas, the men started the day off with a bang with our top two breaking the 8k school record," Head Coach
Steve Sawyer said. "We had a good day. We ran really well as a team. However, the team believes and knows that we are better. Everyone has bought into the knowledge that we still have some work to do to get better before GAC Championships in three weeks."
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On the women's side, three ECU runners made the top 50 in the 5k.
Abigael Kemboi led Tigers with a fourth place finish out of 158 runners with a time of 17:58.4.
Sharon Jesang had a season best time of 18:56.0 to place 24
th while
Madison Ham was next, finishing 36
th with a time of 19:16.4.
"Our top three girls competed well with our conference opponents," Sawyer said. "However, we need to be better as a whole. When that happens, we should be one of the teams to finish near the top of the GAC."
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OBU Invitational
OBU Men's 8k Results Â
The men's team had six runners compete, capturing fourth place as a team with 84 points.
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ECU had three runners in the 8k finish in the top 20 –
Jordan Garcia,
Zander Wood, and
AJ Gustin. Garcia led the team with a time of 27:07.79 good for a seventh-place finish while Wood and Gustin were close to each other placing 13
th and 14
th at a time of 27:58.65 and 28:18.10 respectively.
"I think we had some guys who stepped up and were tough today," Sawyer said. "If we can ALL be tough, no matter how the race is going, that's a positive boost in the right direction for a team that I think may be the best we have ever seen here. But, and a big BUT, we HAVE to be tough!"
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The East Central University men's and women's ross country teams will prepare for the 2022 Great American Conference Championships in Shawnee, Oklahoma Saturday, November 5.
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