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Posted by
Ray Fink
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Sat, Nov 3, 2007
- [
Men's Cross Country
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Michael Elizondo
There were no upsets in the NAIA Region VI cross country meet Saturday
as Oklahoma Baptist University’s men and Wayland Baptist University’s
women captured the team titles.
The only real surprise was Michael Elizondo’s individual championship on the men’s side. The Bison senior made the most of his final race in Shawnee, finishing in 24:38, 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Jordan Powell of Oklahoma Christian.
“Michael had a really good summer – his first good summer of training because of injuries – and he wanted to do something special this year,” said OBU coach Ford Mastin. “He did a great job. He’s got a chance to be an All-American. We’ve only had six cross country All-Americans. That would put him in some pretty elite company.”
OBU won the region and the Sooner Athletic Conference title.
In the regional, OBU was first with 40 points, followed by Oklahoma Christian at 71, Wayland Baptist with 79, Northwood at 84, Southern Nazarene at 85, Huston-Tilllotson at 171 and Lubbock Christian at 175. Several other teams had individual runners but not the required five for a team score.
OBU’s Justin Duncan was third at 24:51, followed by Northwood’s Juan Davila at 24:55. The rest of the Bison scorers were Lance Goodwin in fifth at 25:06, Durrell Williams in 15th at 26:01 and Justin Stroup in 16th at 26:09.
The wins put OBU and Wayland Baptist at the national meet in Kenosha, Wisc. Other individuals making the trip will be men’s racers Powell, Davila, Southern Nazarene’s Benson Chepkwony and Erick Ngney, along with Wayland Baptist’s Timmy McCune. Women’s individual qualifiers are Sylvia Chirchir of Oklahoma Christian, Ashley Earhardt of Northwood, Kayla Lee and Jessica Herbert of OBU and Brittani Borden-Sigle of Lubbock Christian.
Making the men’s All-SAC team were Elizondo, Powell, Duncan, Goodwin, Chepkwony, Ngney, McCune, Kirby Dunn of WBU, Josh Wayland of OC, Seth Carley of SNU, Andres Gonzalez of OC, Adam Henthorn of WBU, Joshua Katam of LCU, and OBU’s Durrell Williams and Justin Stroup.
OBU top the men’s SAC standings at 37, followed by OC at 60, WBU at 67, SNU at 69 and LCU at 134.
WBU’s Caroline Karunde won the women’s race handily in 17:34, finishing ahead of Sylvia Chirchir os OC by seven seconds.
The Pioneers outdistanced the field easily with 25 points, followed by OBU at 63, OC at 74, Northwood at 87, LCU at 131, SNU at 162 and Langston at 189.
Karunde and Chirchir made All-SAC along with WBU’s Rosa Galvan, Erin Britton and Kydia Echols, Lee, Herbert, Borden-Sigle, OBU’s Becca Murdock, OC’s Nicole Lair, WBU’s Elva Pedroza, LCU’s Imma Kosgei, OC’s Melyssa Cardenas, OBU’s Meredith Gardner and SNU’s Caitlin Litsey.
OBU's Zach Johnson was named Men's SAC and Region Coach of the Year while WBU's Brian Whitlock won the women's awards.
Wayland Baptist won the SAC title with 24 points, followed by OBU at 55, OC at 64, Lubbock Christian at 102 and SNU at 124.
The Lady Bison have an outside shot of reaching nationals as a team, but their fate lies in the hands of the rating committee.
“If they’ll look at our team average really closely we might have a chance,” Mastin said. “We ran really well today. Almost every one of our girls ran their best time of the year.”
Lee was the top Lady Bison in seventh with an 18:44, followed by Herbert in eighth at 18:52.45, just nipping Borden-Sigle at the line.
Murdock was 10th in 19:00, followed by Gardner in 16th, with Stephanie Guilmette rounding out the scoring in 22nd at 20:16. Melissa Farias was 26th at 20:28, followed by Tatiana Stoltzfus in 27th at 20:30.
Also for the OBU women, Sarah Taylor was 30th, Natalie Pedersen was 31st, Danielle Cummins was 32nd, Meredith Vernon was 33rd Melanie Walker was 36th, Yesenia Avila was 44th and Megan Buller was 46th.
Also for OBU Dustin O’Day was 19th, Josh Doyel 20th, Cole Tunnell 21st, Trevor Martin 22nd, Josiah White 25th, Brock Stoltzfus 28th, Brandon Dickinson 29th, Cody Steward 41st, Andrew Rushing 45th, Josh Kinman 49th, Bryan Christie 53rd, Kayle Craddock 59th, Bryan Nistler 60th and Reid Jackson 61st.
The only real surprise was Michael Elizondo’s individual championship on the men’s side. The Bison senior made the most of his final race in Shawnee, finishing in 24:38, 10 seconds ahead of runner-up Jordan Powell of Oklahoma Christian.
“Michael had a really good summer – his first good summer of training because of injuries – and he wanted to do something special this year,” said OBU coach Ford Mastin. “He did a great job. He’s got a chance to be an All-American. We’ve only had six cross country All-Americans. That would put him in some pretty elite company.”
OBU won the region and the Sooner Athletic Conference title.
In the regional, OBU was first with 40 points, followed by Oklahoma Christian at 71, Wayland Baptist with 79, Northwood at 84, Southern Nazarene at 85, Huston-Tilllotson at 171 and Lubbock Christian at 175. Several other teams had individual runners but not the required five for a team score.
OBU’s Justin Duncan was third at 24:51, followed by Northwood’s Juan Davila at 24:55. The rest of the Bison scorers were Lance Goodwin in fifth at 25:06, Durrell Williams in 15th at 26:01 and Justin Stroup in 16th at 26:09.
The wins put OBU and Wayland Baptist at the national meet in Kenosha, Wisc. Other individuals making the trip will be men’s racers Powell, Davila, Southern Nazarene’s Benson Chepkwony and Erick Ngney, along with Wayland Baptist’s Timmy McCune. Women’s individual qualifiers are Sylvia Chirchir of Oklahoma Christian, Ashley Earhardt of Northwood, Kayla Lee and Jessica Herbert of OBU and Brittani Borden-Sigle of Lubbock Christian.
Making the men’s All-SAC team were Elizondo, Powell, Duncan, Goodwin, Chepkwony, Ngney, McCune, Kirby Dunn of WBU, Josh Wayland of OC, Seth Carley of SNU, Andres Gonzalez of OC, Adam Henthorn of WBU, Joshua Katam of LCU, and OBU’s Durrell Williams and Justin Stroup.
OBU top the men’s SAC standings at 37, followed by OC at 60, WBU at 67, SNU at 69 and LCU at 134.
WBU’s Caroline Karunde won the women’s race handily in 17:34, finishing ahead of Sylvia Chirchir os OC by seven seconds.
The Pioneers outdistanced the field easily with 25 points, followed by OBU at 63, OC at 74, Northwood at 87, LCU at 131, SNU at 162 and Langston at 189.
Karunde and Chirchir made All-SAC along with WBU’s Rosa Galvan, Erin Britton and Kydia Echols, Lee, Herbert, Borden-Sigle, OBU’s Becca Murdock, OC’s Nicole Lair, WBU’s Elva Pedroza, LCU’s Imma Kosgei, OC’s Melyssa Cardenas, OBU’s Meredith Gardner and SNU’s Caitlin Litsey.
OBU's Zach Johnson was named Men's SAC and Region Coach of the Year while WBU's Brian Whitlock won the women's awards.
Wayland Baptist won the SAC title with 24 points, followed by OBU at 55, OC at 64, Lubbock Christian at 102 and SNU at 124.
The Lady Bison have an outside shot of reaching nationals as a team, but their fate lies in the hands of the rating committee.
“If they’ll look at our team average really closely we might have a chance,” Mastin said. “We ran really well today. Almost every one of our girls ran their best time of the year.”
Lee was the top Lady Bison in seventh with an 18:44, followed by Herbert in eighth at 18:52.45, just nipping Borden-Sigle at the line.
Murdock was 10th in 19:00, followed by Gardner in 16th, with Stephanie Guilmette rounding out the scoring in 22nd at 20:16. Melissa Farias was 26th at 20:28, followed by Tatiana Stoltzfus in 27th at 20:30.
Also for the OBU women, Sarah Taylor was 30th, Natalie Pedersen was 31st, Danielle Cummins was 32nd, Meredith Vernon was 33rd Melanie Walker was 36th, Yesenia Avila was 44th and Megan Buller was 46th.
Also for OBU Dustin O’Day was 19th, Josh Doyel 20th, Cole Tunnell 21st, Trevor Martin 22nd, Josiah White 25th, Brock Stoltzfus 28th, Brandon Dickinson 29th, Cody Steward 41st, Andrew Rushing 45th, Josh Kinman 49th, Bryan Christie 53rd, Kayle Craddock 59th, Bryan Nistler 60th and Reid Jackson 61st.