Qualifying Tech Members Ready Themselves for Nationals
November 13, 2006 | Cross Country
Nov. 13, 2006
LUBBOCK, Texas - In the wake of Selection Sunday, Texas Tech will have one individual and the women's squad travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for a trip to the NCAA Championships on Monday, Nov. 20th. Senior Kevin Chelimo and the women's team all qualified automatically after the Mountain Regional that took place on Saturday, Nov. 11th. The women took second overall, while Chelimo finished in fourth individually.
Second-year head coach Jon Murray expressed his satisfaction in his team's performance on Saturday.
"It is hugely exciting," Murray said. "The women have done something that has not been done before. And they did it in convincing fashion. They earned second place, which is an automatic bid, and it speaks to the quality of our region that five were selected for nationals."
From the Mountain region, the automatic qualifiers were Colorado and Texas Tech. Three at-large bids were selected in addition: Brigham Young, Colorado State and Weber State. The five teams is the second most from any region, with the Southeast earning the most. Six teams from that regional will be competing at nationals: automatic qualifiers North Carolina State and Duke, and at-large bids North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Although the men's Mountain Regional provided only the two automatic teams to the NCAA Championships, the region qualified the most individuals with six. Included in the six is Tech's Kevin Chelimo. This year marks the second-consecutive qualifying year for the Kabarnet, Kenya, native. After finishing sixth in the regional meet in 2005, Chelimo went on the take 38th at nationals.
Despite the women finishing no worse than third all year and Chelimo no worse than eighth, tougher competition awaits the Red Raider harriers.
"It is a whole new game with the national meet," Murray said. "There is more depth and quality in the teams competing in this event. The ladies have responded well to competition so far this season. A top 10 finish for the women is an outstanding goal, and top five for Sally (Kipyego)."
Kipyego has thus far dominated every field that she has faced. In her first year of competition for Texas Tech, she has done a near impossible feat: placed first in all five of her races. The most consistent runner of the team, she has defeated the second-place runner by 29.69, 39.18, 25.7, 44.18 and 44.1 seconds, averaging 36.57 seconds.
Kipyego ran the women's 6k regional race in a time of 19:45.9, the only runner in all regions to blaze through in under 20 minutes. The second-fastest time was 20:02.9 by Frances Koons of Villanova in the Mid-Atlantic region, while the third fastest was by Julia Lucas of North Carolina State in the Southeast region with a time of 20:15.60.
Indiana State University will host the 2006 Division I NCAA Championships from the LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The races will take place on Monday, Nov. 20th, with the women at 11 a.m. CT and the men at 12:15 p.m. For complete coverage of the championships, including a listing of all competing teams and individuals, you may visit www.ncaasports.com. For Red Raider coverage, please visit www.texastech.com.
Players Mentioned
