Cross Country Starts Season in Ruidoso
September 02, 2010 | Cross Country
Sept. 2, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas - The 2010 Texas Tech Red Raiders and newly ranked No. 4 Lady Raiders open the season with the Texas Tech Ruidoso Open held in Ruidoso, N.M. this Friday at 3 p.m., local time.
The Texas Tech Ruidoso Open is a dual meet held with Wayland Baptist. The women's race will be 2.8 miles while the men will run 3.8 miles.
The Lady Raiders begin the season ranked No. 4 in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll. It is the highest preseason ranking for the squad on the season. The group returns All-American Purity Biwott and All-Big 12 runners Caroline Karunde and Winrose Karunde.
Two new additions should help with the loss of two-time All-American Lillian Badaru and Gladys Kipsang. New Mexico Junior College transfer Caroline Jepleting was a seven-time NJCAA national champion and was the 2009 NJCAA Cross Country individual champion.
The other addition is TCU transfer Rose Tanui who also spent time at Central Arizona College. Tanui was the 2008 NJCAA Cross Country Champion and the 2009 NJCAA Cross Country runner-up. She is a three-time NJCAA individual national champion. While at TCU Tanui, won the Mountain West Indoor 5,000M, Mountain West Outdoor 5,000M and Outdoor 10,000M.
The Lady Raiders have seniors Michelle Guzman and Kaci Westervelt returning as both provide depth and experience. Both ran at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last season.
On the men's side seniors Gilbert Limo and Silas Kemboi look to lead a young group eight members being freshmen or sophomores. Limo finished in 24th at the Big 12 Championships last season in cross country and will look to rebound after a strong finish to his track season. Kemboi placed 46th at the Big 12 Championships.
Freshman Reid Strong is a two-time state champion and finished fifth at the state cross country meet last season. He along with juniors Nathan Milles and Zack Dawson are looking to be in the top five on the team.
Results and a recap of the event can be found at www.texastech.com.
Players Mentioned
