KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- Kennedy Kithuka of Wayland Baptist has been named NAIA National Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week, the national office announced Wednesday. The final honoree of the 2011 season was selected based on his performance from Oct. 17 – 23 and was chosen out of a pool of conference/independent/unaffiliated group runners of the week selections.

 

Kithuka ran a season-best 8K time of 23:17.02 en route to the individual title at the Mid-States Classic hosted by Southwestern (Kan.) on Oct. 22. Not only was the Nairobi, Kenya, native's time the best of his sophomore campaign, but it broke the course record and he won the event for the second-straight year. The defending NAIA men's cross country national champion finished 50 seconds ahead of teammate and runner-up Edward Taragon. The 10th-ranked Pioneers placed third as a team with 105 points.