September 11, 2006                    

Cowley cross country teams shine in winning Friends Invitational

With so many new faces the Cowley College cross country coaches were expecting it to take a while for the newcomers to make the adjustments to running at the college level. Well, after two meets it is apparent they have made those adjustments as each squad finished first at the Friends University Invitational ran Friday at Goddard’s Lake Afton.

Last year, Dustin Garcia had the Tiger men’s fastest time at the meet at 27:57. This year, Cowley had six men run faster times than that. Also, every Lady Tiger runner had a faster time than Cowley’s No. 3 runner at last year’s meet.

“Watching our men and women run was absolutely amazing,” Cowley assistant coach Ryan Turner said. “For all but three of them this was their first attempt at a 5K or an 8K (race) and they responded well.”

Cowley freshman Daniel Maina won the men’s five mile race with a time of 24:43, while fellow Tiger Stanley Mugo finished second with a time of 25:28.

“Daniel’s time of 24:43 is pretty impressive, but knowing he did it all by himself with no one pushing him is even more impressive,” Turner said.

Mauricio Morales (27:03) and Garcia (27:06) also ran strong races as they finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Sophomore Ferrien Harris took a minute and 16 seconds off his time from this meet last season and finished as the team’s No. 5 runner.

“We know what our top men can do, but the largest surprise for me was watching Ferrien run,” Turner said. “We told the team that someone needed to step up this week and he did just that.”

The Tiger men finished a whopping 32 points better than second place Southwestern College.
The Lady Tigers were led by freshman Jeniffer Cherono’s (19:45) runner-up finish in the 3.1 mile race. Jolene Mick, a former standout runner at Cloud County that transferred to Kansas Wesleyan University, won the race with a time of 18:43.

Cowley freshman Ashley Cronin was not far behind Cherono as she placed fourth with a time of 20:13.

“Jeniffer and Ashley went out a little harder than I’d hoped for, but they learned a lot from it and were strong enough to hold on until the end,” Turner said.

The Lady Tigers finished nine points in front of second place Kansas Wesleyan and 18 points in front of third place Southwestern.

Kansas Wesleyan was the 2004 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference champions and Southwestern was the 2005 KCAC champions in women’s cross country, so the Lady Tigers were racing against some tough competition.

“The women ran very well, it’s still early and they have plenty of time to keep knocking time off,” Turner said.

Turner is the son in law of Southwestern College cross country coaching legend Jim Helmer, who has led the Moundbuilder men’s cross country team to 26 straight conference titles.

“I have got a lot of respect for coach Helmer, he’s a hall of fame coach for a reason and his teams competed well,” Turner said. “Everyone in this area knows about their reputation of being a traditionally strong (NAIA) program. Anytime we can beat a program like Southwestern I think it speaks well about the direction our programs are heading and the efforts that our men and women put forth.”

The Cowley cross country teams will next compete at the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison Invitational on Sept. 23.

Men’s team standings: (1) Cowley, 23; (2) Southwestern, 55; (3) Allen County, 107; (4) Baker University, 109; (5) Newman University, 113; (6) McPherson College, 140; (7) Friends University, 188; (8) Tabor College, 208; (9) Central Christian, no team score.

Women’s team standings: (1) Cowley, 48; (2) Kansas Wesleyan, 57; (3) Southwestern, 66; (4) Newman, 106; (5) Tabor, 121; (6) Friends, 155; (7) Sterling, 188; (8) Allen County, 194; (9) Oklahoma Wesleyan, no team score; (10) Central Christian, no team score; (11) Butler County, no team score.

Cowley women’s results: (2) Jeniffer Cherono, 19:45; (4) Ashley Cronin, 20:13; (11) Patricia Dailey, 20.53; (17) Bethany Schmidt, 21:22; (19) Brenna Martinez, 21:31; (33) Christy Buller, 22:22; (48) Ali Jorgensen, 23:15.

Cowley men’s results: (1) Daniel Maina, 24:43; (2) Stanley Mugo, 25:28; (4) Mauricio Morales, 27:03; (5) Dustin Garcia, 27:06; (12) Ferrien Harris, 27:31; (14) Brett Kohen, 27:45; (25) Dakota Price, 28:28; (26) Alex Werner, 28:39; (59) Justin DeClerck, 30:49; (65) Dustin Pempsell, 31:13.