September 25, 2006                    

Tiger cross country teams give impressive performances

Competing as the only junior college at the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison Invitational on Saturday, the Cowley College cross country teams gave eye opening performances against the four-year schools.

With eight of its nine women running personal best times and six of its 10 men also achieving personal best times, the teams each placed third.

The Lady Tigers finished behind only nationally ranked Oklahoma Baptist University (NAIA) and the University of Central Oklahoma (NCAA Division II), and beat nationally ranked Oklahoma Christian University (NAIA) and East Central Oklahoma University (NCAA Division II).

The Tiger men also placed third behind nationally ranked East Central Oklahoma University and Oklahoma Christian, and beat nationally ranked Oklahoma Baptist.

The Tigers brought home both individual champions with Jeniffer Cherono and Daniel Maina (pictured) winning each race with school-record times.

Maina, a freshman from Nanyuki, Kenya, broke the Cowley men’s 8K cross country school-record with his winning time of 23:53.

“Daniel's time again is remarkable,” Cowley assistant coach Ryan Turner said. “I was worried Daniel wouldn't have anyone to push him at this meet but as it turned out there were a lot of top-notch runners in this field.  Six of the top-10 finishers were international athletes, which added quality to this race that Daniel needed to prepare him for future races.”

Fellow freshman Stanley Mugo, who placed sixth, became the third fastest individual runner in Cowley history with his time of 25:05. Only Maina and Cowley/University of Arkansas alumnus Josephat Boit have run faster times in a Tiger uniform. 

Sophomores Dustin Garcia (26:20) and Ferrien Harris (27:06) also ran well as they placed 12th and 30th,  respectively.

“I thought Stanley, Dustin, and Ferrien really ran impressive this week,” Turner said. “They weren't holding much back and never stopped competing throughout the entire race.”

Competing in just her third meet of the season, Cherono’s time of 18:30 in the 5K run tied Linet Birir’s school-record set last season.            

“Jeniffer's starting to get in shape and she's feeling more confident in her races,” Turner said.

Irene Kosgei ran her first race of the season and finished fourth with a time of 19:00 in the 5K race. This places her third all-time on the women's 5K cross country performance list. 

“Irene coming off her injury is still a little out of shape, but with time that will correct itself,” Turner said. “She felt really good about her race and it's nice to see her out there running again.”

Ashley Cronin set the school record for the fastest American runner (non-international) in Cowley history. Her seventh place time of 19:11 replaces sophomore Patricia Dailey's time of 19:56. Dailey's previous record was run at the Missouri Southern Invitational in the 2005 season. 

“With some coercing she decided to be a little more conservative early in the race and looked a lot better over that last mile as she closed on several runners at the end,” Turner said.

Turner was thrilled with the performance of the women’s team.

“All in all, I think all the women ran outstanding,” Turner said. “It's hard to pick one performance over another because they all competed so hard and had such great efforts.  But, obviously it's nice to have three girls finish in the top-seven in a quality meet like this one.”

Up next for both teams will be the Cowboy Jamboree at Oklahoma State University on Saturday. 

Cowley head coach Mark Phillips expects it to be a tough meet.

“This meet will be a true test for both teams as it will be one of the biggest meets in the Midwest this year,” Phillips said.

Cowley results:

Men

(1) Maina, 23:53; ((6) Mugo, 25:05; (12) Dustin Garcia, 26:20; (30) Ferrien Harris, 27:06; (32) Mauricio Morales, 27:12; (40) Brett Koehn, 28:03; (44) Dakota Price, 28:25; (52) Alex Werner, 28:47; (58) Dustin Pempsell, 29:42; (63) Justin DeClerck, 30:49.

Women

(1) Cherono, 18:30; (4) Kosgei, 19:00; (7) Cronin, 19:11; (22) Patricia Dailey, 20:30; (25) Bethany Schmidt, 20:33; (27) Christy Buller, 20:38; (38) Brenna Martinez, 21:20; (46) Dawn Zimmerman, 21:53; (61) Hannah Burr, 23:20.

Men’s team scores: (1) East Central University, 51; (2) Oklahoma Christian University, 66; (3) Cowley, 69; (4) Oklahoma Baptist, 76; (5) Cameron University, 122; (6) Dallas Baptist, 144; (7) Northwestern Oklahoma State University, 215.

Women’s team scores: (1tie) Oklahoma Baptist, 50; (1tie) University of Central Oklahoma, 50; (3) Cowley, 59; (4) Oklahoma Christian, 103; (5) East Central Oklahoma, 123; (6) Dallas Baptist, 145; (7) Southern Nazarene, 157; (8) Southeastern Oklahoma State, 222; (9) Langston University, 252.