October 30, 2007

Cowley men’s cross country wins first ever region championship

Running on its home course, the Cowley College men’s cross country team ran a stellar race as they captured its first ever Region VI Championship Monday at Camp Quaker Haven in Arkansas City.

The Tiger men had four runners earn all-region honors as Daniel Maina (24:59.69) placed second, Stanley Mugo (25:33.02) placed fourth, Johnny Purvis (26:18.48) placed eighth, and Mauricio Morales (26:29.78) finished 11th.

Brett Koehn (27:02.82) missed earning all-region honors by less than two seconds as he placed 16th. Justin Cacaro (27:25.27) and Gilbert Manzanares (28:05.93) finished 26th and 32nd, respectively for the Tigers.

Cowley head coach Mark Phillips was pleased with every runners performance.
“They ran as good or better than expected,” Phillips said. “As a team we got it done as we have all year long.”

Maina, who was clipped at the finish line by Cloud County’s Julius Bor (24:59.14) in a near photo finish for the region title, was the Jayhawk East Conference champion.
“Nationals will be interesting, there will be about five guys that will be right there with those two,” Phillips said.

Mugo finished as the conference runner-up, while Purvis was fourth in the conference.
This marks the seventh straight year that a Tiger men’s runner has been named the conference champion. The efforts of the Cowley men’s runners helped the Tigers capture their second straight conference title as they finished 21 points better than second place Johnson County.

The Cowley women were led by four runners that garnered all-region honors as Irene Kosgei (18:37.25) finished second, while Jeniffer Cherono (18:56.58) and Ashley Cronin (20:08.70) placed fifth and 15th, respectively.

The Lady Tigers finished second in the conference behind Johnson County and third in the region behind region champion Butler Community College and runner-up Johnson County.

“Our ladies ran great, we knew we were running behind two of the toughest teams in the nation,” Phillips said. “We’re ranked sixth, but we think we can be in the top-five at nationals.”

Along with the high expectations for the women’s team, Phillips has extremely high hopes for the men’s team at nationals.

“We should be one of the top-three schools,” Phillips said. “The one with the best race will be the national champion.”

The NJCAA National Cross Country Meet will be held Nov. 10 at Rend Lake Community College in Ina, Illinois.

With the success of the men’s team, Cowley College assistant cross country coach Vince DeGrado was named the Region VI Men’s Coach of the Year.

“Vince has come into our program and done a wonderful job with these kids, he has done everything I expected him to do,” Phillips said.

Cowley men’s conference results: (1) Daniel Maina, 24:59.69; (2) Stanley Mugo, 25:33.02; (4) Johnny Purvis, 26:18.48; (6) Mauricio Morales, 26:29.78; (8) Brett Koehn, 27:02.82; (13) Justin Cacaro, 27:25.27; (16) Gilbert Manzanares, 28:05.93.
Cowley women’s conference results: (1) Irene Kosgei, 18:37.25; (3) Jeniffer Cherono, 18:56.58; (6) Ashley Cronin, 20:08.70; (12) Christy Buller, 20:50.81; (14) Bethany Schmidt, 21:29.61; (15) Janee’ Gabbard, 21:33.00.

Men’s Jayhawk East team scores: (1) Cowley, 21; (2) Johnson County, 42; (3) Allen County, 75; (4) Coffeyville, 120; (5) Highland, 126; (6) Neosho County, no team score.
Women’s Jayhawk East team scores: (1) Johnson County, 26; (2) Cowley, 36; (3) Allen County, 76; (4) Highland, 114.

Cowley men’s Region VI results: (2) Maina, 24:59.69; (4) Mugo, 25:33.02; (8) Purvis, 16:18.48; (11) Morales, 26:29.78; (16) Koehn, 27:02.82; (26, Cacaro, 27:25.27; (32) Manzanares, 28:05.93.

Cowley women’s Region VI results: (2) Kosgei, 18:37.25; (5) Cherono, 18:56.58; (15) Cronin, 20:08.70; (25) Buller, 20:50.81; (31) Schmidt, 21:29.61; (32) Gabbard, 21:33.00; (43) Rinehart, 22:42.57.

Men’s Region VI team scores: (1) Cowley, 41; (2) Butler, 51; (3) Johnson County, 87; (4) Hutchinson, 117; (5) Garden City, 135; (6) Allen County, 161; (7) Cloud County, 173; (8) Colby, 214; (9) Coffeyville, 242; (10) Highland, 254; (11) Neosho County and Pratt finished with no team scores.

Women’s Region VI team scores: (1) Butler, 41; (2) Johnson County, 60; (3) Cowley, 78; (4) Garden City, 122; (5) Colby, 140; (6) Allen County, 159; (7) Hutchinson, 179; (8) Cloud County, 190; (9) Highland, 248.