Naimadu wins second-straight national title

Men finish 8th, women finish 11th in cross country nationals

CHINO, Calif. -- ACU sophomore Nicodemus Naimadu cruised to his second straight individual cross country national championship Saturday, smahsing the course record at Prado Park to lead the Wildcats to a top-10 finish in the men's team race.

The previous course record was 30:17.0 over the 10-kilometer course, but Naimadu set the early pace and never trailed en route to finishing in 30:13.8, almost one minute better than the runner-up, Kelly Christensen of team champion Western State, who finished in 31:10.4.

The Wildcats -- who were ranked No. 4 in the nation entering the match and had finished second each year from 2000-03 before finishing third last year -- finished eighth this year. ACU was hampered by the loss of both Lucky Hadebe and Alberic Nkurunziza. Hadebe tested his sore left leg during Friday's practice session, but determined he couldn't go on Saturday. And Nkurunziza pulled up lame early in the race with a bad ankle.

That left the Wildcats without two of their best runners; two runners who could have each placed in the top 25. Instead, ACU's next finisher after Naimadu was Philip Birgen, who was 22nd in 32:38.1, followed by Martin O'Kello in 43rd in 32:27.8 and Serge Gasore in 51st in 33:41.0. Freshman Andrew Rogers was the Wildcats' fifth runner and he finished 136th in 26:37.2.

ACU finished with 253 points, while national champion Western State had 51 and runner-up Adams State came in with 108 points.

Just like their male teammates, ACU's women's team was hurt by a runner who could not finish the race. The Wildcats finished 11th in the team race, but were forced to run the majority of the race without senior Trina Cox, who two weeks ago won the NCAA Division II South Central Region individual title. Cox pulled out of the race about two miles into the competition.

That left Olha Kryv'yak and Adeh Mwamba to carry the load for the Wildcats, and they did just that as both earned all-America honors with strong races. Kryv'yak finished fourth, covering the 6000 meter course in 21:15.2, while Mwamba was fifth in 21:25.1.