Texans cruise to victory at Region 5 Cross Country Championships
HOBBS, N.M. – Antibahs Kibiwott dominated the field at the Region 5 Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at Harry McAdams Park in Hobbs, winning his third race in a row and fourth in five attempts this season as he led a group of four Texans placing inside the top five and five in the top 10 to help the NJCAA top-ranked Texans walk away with the team title.
2014 Season Performance Chart Men's Results Women's Results
The No. 1-ranked Texans seem to be hitting their peak at the right time heading into the NJCAA National Cross Country meet they will host Nov. 8 at Shadow Hills Golf Course in Lubbock as four of their top five runners significantly improved upon their performances run on the same course two weeks ago.
Kibiwott navigated the 8,000-meter course in a season best time of 23 minutes, 49.00 seconds to outpace his next closest competitor by 30 seconds. His time at the NMJC Open two weeks ago was 24:08.60.
Jose Martinez (24:35.04), Hassan Abdi (24:49.17), and Kelvin Keter (24:58.68) finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
Martinez ran 10 seconds faster this week while Keter dramatically improved by 37 seconds at the Region 5 Championships. Abdi stayed consistent running three seconds slower.
Finishing in ninth, sophomore Colton Hollis (25:29.23) also posted a 10 second improvement compared to the NMJC Open.
The Texans finished with 22 points to outpace fourth-ranked El Paso CC by 11.
On the women's side, the No. 12-ranked Lady Texans were second as a team, finishing behind No. 2-ranked El Paso CC but ahead of sixth-ranked New Mexico JC.
The Lady Texans had four finishers inside the top 10, led by Victoria Salvadores in third at 19:11.43.
Lyndi Hanson (19:59.43) and Kassidi Jones (20:04.08) were seventh and eighth, whileJ'Cee Holmes (20:15.03) finished 10th.
Kaitlyn Henderson (23:06.13) rounded out the Lady Texan team score of 49 points with a 26th place finish.
Each of the Lady Texans top four finishers also posted times that were at least eight seconds better than there performances from two weeks ago to indicate they are also rounding into form at the right time.
Next up for the Texan and Lady Texan cross country teams are the NJCAA National Cross Country Championships they will host Saturday, Nov. 8 at Shadow Hills Golf Course in Lubbock, Texas. The women's 5,000-meter race is scheduled for 10 a.m. with the men's 8,000-meter race following at 11 a.m.
The top-ranked Texans will look to win their first cross country crown since 1997.