Wildcats sweep LSC titles

Wildcats repeat as LSC champions

Naimadu, Cox lead ACU teams to cross country titles

WEATHERFORD, Okla. -- ACU continued its dominance of the Lone Star Conference Cross Country Championships meet Saturday as the Wildcats ran away with both the men's and womens titles in Weatherford, Okla.

ACU's men took home the LSC trophy for a 15th consecutive year, while the ACU women won their fifth straight conference crown. The race was hosted for the first time by Southwestern Oklahoma State University and held at Prairie West Golf Course.

ACU's men, ranked No. 2 nationally, enjoyed a 1-2-3 finish in the 8,000-meter race en route to a 28-point total to easily outdistance runner-up East Central's 47-point total. ACU's women, ranked 16th nationally, also had the top three finishers in their 6,000-meter race, totaling 43 points to finish well ahead of runner-up West Texas A&M's 63-point total.

Individually, defending NCAA Division II national champion Nicodeumus Naimadu won the men's race with a time of 26:25.6. He led a trio of Wildcats that finished together, with Serge Gasore second at 26:25.9 and Phillip Birgin third at 26:26.1. Each of those three Wildcats earned all-conference honors.

ACU's Trina Cox captured the women's individual title, clocking in at 21:31.8. Fellow Wildcats Olha Kryv'yak and Adeh Mwamba were second and third, repsectively, with times of 21:59.4 and 22:14.0. Cox, Kryv'yak and Mwamba were each named all-conference.

East Central's men had four of the top 11 runners and finished with 47 points as the runner-up, while Angelo State was third 68 points, followed by Eastern New Mexico in fourth with 90, Texas A&M-Commerce fifth with 101, Texas A&M-Kingsville sixth with 205, Tarleton State seventh with 207, West Texas A&M eighth with 223 and Cameron ninth with 224.

On the women's side, West Texas A&M had four of the first 12 runners to finish second with 66 points, followed by Angelo State in third with 88, Central Oklahoma fourth with 102, East Central fifth with 171, Tarleton State sixth with 175, Eastern New Mexico seventh with 214, Midwestern State eighth with 218, Southwestern Oklahoma ninth with 219, Texas A&M-Commerce 10th with 253, Texas A&M-Kingsville 11th with 257 and Southeastern Oklahoma 12th with 313.

Both ACU teams will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 5, when the Wildcats host the NCAA Division II South Central Region meet at Sherrod Park.