Men win regional; women third

ACU goes 1-5 in men's race to win

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The ACU men’s cross country team dominated the field Saturday en route to winning its third straight NCAA Division II South Central region championship on the campus of Central Missouri State University.

The Wildcats – ranked No. 2 in the nation behind Western State, Colo. – will try to win their first-ever cross country national championship when they compete in the NCAA Division II national championship meet Nov. 23 in Ashland, Ohio.

The ACU women finished a strong third, but failed to qualify for the national tournament.  However, the third-place finish was the best for the Wildcats since 1997 when they qualified for the national championship meet.

ACU dominated the field, finishing with a perfect 15 points by virtue of going 1-5 at the meet.  ACU’s other two runners finished seventh and ninth to make all seven Wildcats all-region runners.

Senior Alfred Rugema won his second career regional championship, covering the 10-kilometer course in 31 minutes, 5.70 seconds to beat teammate Bernard Manirakiza by more than eight seconds (31:13.80).  Defending regional champion John Kemboi was third in 31:46.00, followed by Arthemon Sindayigaya (31:59.00) and Martin O’Kello (31:59.70) to round out the top five. Jean-Marie Ndukimana finished seventh (32:25.60) and Nick Branen was ninth (32:34.60).

On the women’s side, junior Justine Nahimana was fourth, covering the 6-kilometer course in 23:00.60 to earn all-region honors.  Senior Angie Waters was fifth (23:06.00) to also earn all-region honors.  Sophomore Cassie Chaffin was 11th (23:43.80), Abbie Waters was 38th (24:55.30) and Jody Pelletier was 57th (26:13.60).

Pittsburg State, Kan., won the women’s title with 48 points, followed by Central Missouri State (69 points) and ACU (82 points).