By Steve Holt, Sports Writer
Two national titles down, two to go.
Sophomore Nicodemus Naimadu won his second straight NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championship on Nov. 19 in Pomona, Calif., becoming the first Wildcat to accomplish that feat and the first to win titles as both a freshman and a sophomore.
Naimadu finished the 10-kilometer course with a Prado Park course-record time of 30 minutes, 13.8 seconds, which was almost a minute ahead of runner-up finisher Kelly Christensen of Western State.
The Kenyan controlled the race from beginning to end, and Naimadu said he never once doubted that he would retain his title.
“No one challenged me at all,” Naimadu said. “I was running by myself. I reached a point of having a break, and I took a cup of water.”
Naimadu’s win was the only good news for the men’s team, however, which had finished in the top-5 at every national meet since 1998.
However, this year ACU finished eighth in a team race dominated by champion Western State, the Wildcats’ lowest team finish since 1996. Injuries plagued the Wildcat team, however, before and during the race, as two of the top five runners either dropped out of the race early or did not start.
About three miles into the ten-kilometer race, freshman Alberic Nkurunziza pulled up lame with an ankle injury after stepping in a hole on the course. Senior Lucky Hadebe, who injured his Achilles tendon during the Lone Star Conference Championships on Oct. 22, was unable to run Saturday after testing his injury in a workout on the course Friday.
“We knew early on that we were in trouble,” said head coach Derek Hood. “When [Alberic] dropped out, that was the nail in the coffin.
Freshman Philip Birgen was the second Wildcat that crossed the line, finishing 22nd in the race in 32:38.1. Senior Martin O’Kello was 43rd in the race with a time of 33:27.8, followed by freshman Serge Gasore in 51st (33:41.0) in 136th (36:27.3).
“I’m disappointed with the eighth-place finish, but we had four freshmen on the team, plus the injury bug you put those things together, and we were bound to finish the way we did,” Hood said.
The ACU women placed 11th in a race, which Adams State won and Grand Valley State finished second.
An injury affected the women’s team as well, as region champion Trina Cox passed out mid-way through the race, unable to finish the remainder of the six kilometers. Cox’s teammates Olha Kryv’yak and Adeh Mwamba picked up the slack, however, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 21:15.2 and 21:25.1.
Freshman Mary Mwangi was next for ACU in 108th (24:38.1), followed by senior Mollye Stanford in 109th (24:38.3). Senior Abbie Waters rounded out the top-five for ACU, finishing 118th in 24:58.1.
The race was the last for seniors Waters and Stanford, and Hood said he was impressed by their contributions to the team’s finish.
“To finish 11th while having your top runner not finish is impressive,” Hood said. “If you take Trina out of the equation, it was a great performance by everybody.”
Hood said Cox simply succumbed to a combination of warm temperatures, dry conditions, and the mental burden of falling behind the leaders early in the race.
“She probably pressed a little too hard and panicked,” Hood said. “That was a big disappointment for her as an individual and obviously for us as a team.”
Even still, the team’s performance was an improvement over its last showing at nationals, a 16th-place finish at the 1997 National Championships in Kenosha, Wis.
Next season is guaranteed to be a rebuilding year for Hood in terms of his women’s team. Hood will loose three of his top-five runners from this season and one more experienced runner: Cox, Mwamba, Stanford, and Waters.
“I’m going to have to do some recruiting on the women’s side,” Hood said. “We’re losing some real talent there.”
Next up for Hood will be off-season conditioning for his middle- and long-distance runners in preparation for the indoor track and field season, which will kick off Jan. 20 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
