Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Columbus State women run to NCAA Division II Cross Country Southeast Regional Championship by one point over Queens College

CSU men take 2nd to also qualify for national meet

FROM STAFF REPORTS

WINGATE, N.C. — The Columbus State women’s cross country team got top-ten finishes from Naomi Tanui, Brittney Skiles and Kelli Arnold to win the school’s first NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship in the sport Saturday at Wingate University.

The Peach Belt Conference champion CSU women collected 68 points and nipped Queens University of Charlotte for the title by one point in the 23-team competition.

The CSU men, also Peach Belt winners, duplicated their region finish from a year ago, finishing second to top-seeded Queens, also among 23 squads. Both CSU teams, however, qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships, to be in Evansville, Ind., in two weeks.

Tanui, the individual Peach Belt Conference women’s champion, finished third in the region among 162 runners. The junior from Kenya covered the 6-kilometer course in 22:50, 15 seconds behind individual winner Kate Griewisch of Lenoir-Rhyne. Whitney Bishoff of Anderson was second at 22:42.

Skiles, a junior from Dawson, Ga., continued her strong year, finishing fourth (23:28). Arnold, a freshman from Cochran, Ga., came in ninth (24:07). Her older sister, junior Ashley Arnold, finished was 11th (24:14). Tiara Brown, a junior from Fort Myers, Fla., was the fifth scoring runner for CSU, finishing 43rd (25:43). Moneka English, a freshman from Albany, Ga., was three seconds behind Brown. Hope Ard, a freshman from Phenix City, was 107th (28:04).

For the CSU men, sophomore Meshack Koyiaki of Kenya entered the event having won each of the four meets he had started in 2009. He nearly extended that perfect record. Koyiaki and reigning region champion Oscar Ogwaro of Queens reached the finish line together, so the winner was determined in a photo finish. Koyiaki misunderstood the rules and thrust his legs across the finish line, but Ogwaro stretched his upper torso at the line and was declared the winner.

Nicholas Kering, a junior from Kenya, gave CSU two runners in the top four, finishing fourth at 31:43. Nathan Prickett, a sophomore from Opelika, Ala., was next for CSU in 19th (33:44), followed by junior John Neill of Smiths, Ala., in 23rd (33:55) and senior Stewart Helton of Grayson, Ga., in 25th (33:57) as the last Cougar to score. Also for CSU were freshman Andrew Henderson of Phenix City in 48th (35:10) and senior David Marley of Albany, Ga., in 49th (35:14).

Queens easily claimed the men’s team title with 28 points, followed by 70 from CSU. Mars Hill was the third and the final team to qualify for nationals with 96 points.