The men’s and women’s cross country teams both won their traditional Naimadu Classic home meet on Sept. 18. 

Levi Chambers, junior from Evans, Colorado, took fourth place with the rest of the men’s team not far behind. For the women’s team, Irene Rono, a sophomore from Eldama Ravine, Kenya, Prudence Kiyeng a sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya, Briahna Gerlach, a senior from Gakona, Alaska and Tessa Holderman, a freshman from Rio Rancho, N.M., took first through fourth place. 

“Irene did what she normally does, but to have that pack behind her gave us that positive outcome,” said head coach Jelen Jarvis. “If we keep them healthy, and progressing they will be in a really good place to be extremely impressive in the WAC.”

Jelen says it was great to get a win out of both teams and this meet was just another building block for the rest of the season.

“It’s really cool to see how far we’ve come from the beginning of the summer to now, and to be together again,” said Chambers. “To race and win our home meet in front of a good crowd is so fun.”

Progressively, Chambers and his team have learned to run close together to pace each other and get them closer when finishing races.

Chambers said the environment was awesome and his home stretch to the finish line was filled with ACU fans cheering him on. 

The cross country team had a great turnover at their home field which Jelen said he was very blessed to have and its a great way to show the school what they can do. Plus, the Naiamadu Classic is very special to the ACU cross country program as it honors arguably one of the greatest D2 runners of all time.

ACU will be back in action on the road on Oct. 2 at the UIW Invitational.