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Second-ranked Hawks finish 8th at NAIA XC Nat'l Championship
By Matt Green and Blair Hooper
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Armed with its best ranking ever, the Shorter University men's cross country team posted its best national finish ever.
Southern States Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year Daniel Sorenson finished 32nd overall, SSAC Runner of the Year Eliud Ng'etich placed 44th and No. 2-ranked Shorter turned in an eighth place finish at the 2011 NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship held Saturday afternoon at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash.
The Hawks totaled 282 points to take 8th out of 32 teams and best their previous high national finish of 10th achieved at last season's national championship meet.
"The guys ran well," said Shorter head coach Jay Stephenson. "We were very satisfied. We were very pleased, but we would have liked to have finished higher."
Sorenson, a junior out of Lakewood, Calif., crossed the finish line in a time of 25:09, improving on his runner-up performance at the SSAC Championships two weeks ago when he completed the course in 25:35. Ng'etich, a junior out of Eldoret, Kenya, completed the event in 25:24.
Junior Carlos Perez was the third Shorter harrier to finish in a time of 25:27, good enough for 50th place. Seniors Nicolas Toscan (25:49) and Peter Limo (25:50) rounded out Shorter's point producers in 77th and 79th place, respectively.
Shorter totaled a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and averaged 25:32.
Competing in his final collegiate cross country race, senior Allen O'Neal ran 29:11. O'Neal is one of a core group of three seniors that includes Limo and Toscan who will graduate this year.
"We will definitely have some holes to fill [next season]," said Stephenson of his senior class. "We will miss them."
Oklahoma Christian, one of Shorter's biggest rivals on the cross country scene, won the team national championship for the first time in its program's history. Oklahoma Christian had four runners place in the top 30 allowing the Eagles to average 24:40 and cruise to the victory with 93 points.
Kennedy Kithuka of Wayland Baptist took home his second national championship title by winning the event in a time of 23:15.
