By Steve Holt, Sports Writer Considering the success the ACU cross country team has enjoyed the last ten years, with seven top-10 finishes, including second place the last three seasons, another runner-up trophy in 2003 might seem like a disappointment. Not so. Without two-time individual national champion Alfred Rugema and multi-time ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer The sweat and pain of a three-month season will funnel down to a half-hour Saturday, as nine ACU athletes compete in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Cary, N.C. ACU's seven-runner men's squad will be competing for its first national title, while two women will run for individual glory. "There's some ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer Since 1997, the women's cross country team has been on a streak it would like to reverse-never finishing better than third at the South Central Regional Meet, from which the top two teams advance to the Division II Cross Country National Championships. The Wildcats will try to reverse that streak Saturday as the ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer The men's and women's cross country teams captured their respective Lone Star Conference titles Saturday in Portales, N.M. The women's team's performance was notable in that Wildcat runners captured the top three spots in the race, as well as the seventh- and 20th-place spots, for a team score of 33. ACU won easily, ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer Bernard Manirakiza remembers his earliest competitive races. He recalls winning his first five-, eight-, 10- and 13- kilometer races in his home country of Burundi-races that would pave the way for an already decorated career as a distance runner. But Manirakiza won't forget the burden he had to carry on those ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer Saturday, the men's and women's cross country teams will compete for their 13th and third consecutive Lone Star Conference titles, respectively, in Portales, N.M. The women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 9 a.m., while the men's 8-kilometer race will start at 9:40 a.m. at the Portales Country Club. While the men are ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer The ACU men's and women's cross country teams will see some of their best competition Saturday as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. The ACU men claimed first at the meet in 2000, defeating then-Division I national champion Arkansas for the second time that season. Since ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer To win big meets, everyone has to be healthy. The men's cross country team learned this lesson in a big way at the Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, finishing fifth at a meet the Wildcats won in 2000. ACU was without one of its top runners, senior Jean-Marie Ndukimana, who has been hampered lately with ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer ACU will go spike-to-spike with some of the nation's best Division I cross country teams Saturday at the 67th annual Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla. The Wildcat men have quite a tradition to keep at the meet after finishing first in 2000 and second last season. "I think a top-five finish would be great," said ... [Read More…]

By Steve Holt, Sports Writer After winning her first race of the season Sept. 12 at the ACU Classic against Division II opponents, Yuliya Stashkiv established her rightful place Saturday among some of the best distance runners in Texas. The freshman placed third in a field of 161 women, the majority from Division I programs, at the Texas A&M Cross ... [Read More…]