By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
Nicodemus Naimadu made history on November 20. Barely.
The freshman runner became only the second Wildcat ever to win the individual title at the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships, edging out Western State’s Oliver Bodor by just one-tenth of a second at the championship meet in Evansville, Ind.
The ACU men placed third in the team race, but the story of the day was Naimadu’s individual win, one of the closest in the championship’s history. Just months after first stepping foot onto American soil from Kenya, Naimadu followed 2000 and 2002 champion Alfred Rugema by becoming ACU’s second national champion with a time of 38:31.1 over the hilly 10,000-meter course.
“After the race I was very happy, and I thank God for the energy that he provided me throughout the race,” the Olenguruone, Kenya, native said.
Naimadu led the race almost from the starting line, battling Harding’s Peter Kosgei and two Western State runners throughout much of the race. Murray said Naimadu was leading the race by 20 meters with just over a mile to go and was pressured by Western’s Bodor the entire last mile. But Naimadu held the Mountaineer runner off with a lunge at the line.
“Nicodemus just willed himself to the victory the last 100 meters of the race,” head coach Jon Murray said. “It was a courageous one to the very end. The course was muddy and hilly, which I think did not play into our favor for our strengths, but Nicodemus made it his strength. He was killing people on the hills.”
Naimadu recounted the conditions at race time.
“The course was not such a good one mainly because it was muddy, and I was also sliding,” Naimadu said. “But I encouraged myself to strive ahead because I knew that we were all having the same problem.”
Western State College (Colo.) was the team champion, placing three runners in the top 10 and all five runners in the top 20 finishers. Adams State placed second with 76 points, followed by ACU, which has finished second or third every November since 1999.
“Our group did a good job of competing, and I expect them to challenge these two teams even more next year,” Murray said.
Murray added that several factors helped the two Colorado teams at nationals, including training at altitude and racing each other three times throughout the season.
Senior Bernard Manirakiza earned his fourth all-America distinction, placing 10th with a time of 32:31.9. Junior Martin O’Kello managed to place 27th despite becoming sick toward the end of the race, and he was followed by freshman Laurent Ngirakamaro in 39th place. Junior transfer Lucky Hadebe rounded out the Wildcat top five by placing 60th.
California State-Chico and Harding placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men’s team race.
On the women’s side, the race was all Adams State, which placed all five runners in the top 15 finishers for a dominant score of 31. Three ACU women competed individually, however. The top Wildcat was junior transfer Adeh Mwamba, who completed the 6,000-meter race in 21:56.2 to finish ninth. Trina Cox was 50th for the Wildcats, finishing in 23:20.1. Sophomore Olha Kryv’yak finished 72nd with a time of 23:50.3.
Mwamba earned her first Division II all-America distinction after winning consecutive National Junior College Association of America titles in 2002 and 2003. Naimadu, Manirakiza and O’Kello were all-America athletes for the men.
“It was an impressive race,” Murray said.
Losing only senior Manirakiza, the potential for even more success from the team next fall is hard to ignore.
“You have to be excited to see where this group will go in the next few years,” Murray said. “They competed well on a tough course in difficult conditions, and I think they will continue to improve and make a better run at winning a cross country championship in the near future.”
Between now and then, Murray will hope to sign more athletes like Naimadu. He will use the connections he made on his 2004 summer trip to Kenya and other upcoming recruiting ventures to build another strong base of youth for 2005.
“We will continue to work hard to get closer to a championship,” Murray said. “I will continue to challenge our runners to think about how we can work smarter while getting stronger.”
