Tulane Women’s Cross Country Wins the American Championship; Men’s Team Places Second Overall
The Tulane women’s cross country team captured the American Conference Championship for the second time in three years, winning the 6K race with 36 points. The men’s squad finished as runner-up in the 8K with 41 points on Saturday morning at Frank Liske Park in Concord, North Carolina.
Tulane Women Take Control
It was a dominant performance for the Green Wave women, who placed four runners in the top 10 and all seven scoring members in the top 17, including five All-Conference selections.
The team was led by Blezzin Kimutai, who finished as the runner-up with a time of 20:16.3 (5:26.1 per mile) to earn All-Conference honors for the second time in her cross country career. Dorcas Naibei placed fourth in 20:36.0 (5:31.3 per mile) to earn All-Conference honors, while Haley Harper finished eighth in 20:41.8 (5:32.9 per mile), also earning All-Conference recognition. Petra Dos Santos placed ninth in 20:42.3 (5:33.0 per mile), earning All-Conference honors and a spot on the league’s All-Freshman Team. Janae Dean took 13th in 20:53.5 (5:36.0 per mile) for All-Conference honors. Alex Sharp narrowly missed All-Conference recognition, placing 16th in 21:00.8 (5:38.0 per mile), while Allison Hall finished 17th in 21:02.5 (5:38.5 per mile).
The Tulane coaching staff also picked up some hardware as Adrian Myers, David Silversmith and Wondu Summa were named the American Women's Coaching Staff of the Year upon completion of the meet.
Green Wave Men Finish Near the Top
On the men’s side, Tulane turned in a strong team performance, with all seven scoring runners finishing among the top 21 in the conference. Bernard Cheruiyot led the way, placing second in 23:25.6 (4:42.8 per mile) to earn All-Conference honors for the second time in his career. Silas Kiptuani finished fourth in 23:38.8 (4:45.5 per mile), earning All-Conference recognition, while Illia Kunin placed seventh in 23:52.3 (4:48.2 per mile) for All-Conference honors. Tommy Rice took 13th in 24:03.0 (4:50.3 per mile), and Rogerio Amaral placed 15th in 24:12.8 (4:52.3 per mile), both earning All-Conference honors. Zach Von Houten finished 16th in 24:14.3 (4:52.6 per mile), just outside the All-Conference cutoff, and Gilbert Rono placed 21st in 24:26.0 (4:55.1 per mile).
Next up, both Tulane squads will compete at the NCAA South Central Regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday, Nov. 14, beginning at 10:30 a.m. with the women’s race at Agri Park. The men’s race will follow at 11:30 a.m.
Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.