Cornelius Kogo, Mildred Rono Fight Through Tough Conditions To Win Division 1 Individual Crowns

By David Woods for DyeStat

Photos courtesy Paul DeCoursey

In a winter wonderland more suited for skis or snowshoes, junior college runners laced up their spikes for cross country at Fort Dodge, Iowa.

RESULTS/VIDEOS

“I didn’t expect it. But what can you say?” said Cornelius Kogo of Hutchinson (Kan.). “It’s nationals, so you have to take it.”

Kogo took the individual title Saturday in a NJCAA Division I race dominated by foreign runners.

The Kenyan sophomore ran the snow-covered 8,000-meter layout on Lakeside Golf Course in 24 minutes,  54.7 seconds. He overtook teammate Titus Kiprotich for a 1-2 Hutchinson finish.

No. 3-ranked Iowa Central, featuring five Moroccan freshmen, overcame a nine-point deficit at 7 kilometers to overtake No. 2 Hutchinson for the team championship, 58-69.

It was the sixth team championship for Iowa Central, fourth on this home course.

No. 5 Butler (Kan.) was third with 144. No. 10 Snow College (Utah) also had 144 and was fourth via tiebreaker.

Defending champion Salt Lake (Utah), which dropped its track and field program, finished 11th with 297.

Kiprotich, ahead by six seconds through 7K, finished eight seconds behind Kogo in 25:02.7. Kogo was 28th last year.

“My coach told me just to be patient, and at the end you have to work for it,” Kogo said. “So that’s what I did. I worked for it, and I came out with a win.”

For Iowa Central, Chakib Cherkaoui Rhazouami and Saad Rifi Loutfi finished third and fourth in 25:08.4 and 25:12.16. They were followed by Said Rifi Loutfi (12th), Soufyana Laaziz (17th) and Taha Ouchene (22nd).

Amantle Modingwane of Ranger (Texas), after running the year’s fastest junior college 8K of 23:21, finished 14th in 25:53.6. Butler’s Emmanuel Otim, third last year, finished 10th.

Top American finisher was Snow’s Caden Timm-DuShane, of West Jordan, Utah. He was 16th.

Division 1 women’s 5K

No. 1 Odessa (Texas) won its first Division 1 women’s title, scoring 54 points to 127 for No. 2 Iowa Western. Odessa’s previous best was fifth in 1991.

No. 5 Hutchinson was third, also a program best, with 143. No. 3 El Paso (Texas) was fourth with 144.

Hutchinson’s Mildred Rono was a runaway champion over 5,000 meters with a time of 17:11.1, or 42 seconds ahead of runner-up Juliana Sakat of Iowa Western. Sakat had been previously unbeaten by Juco runners, including a victory over Rono by one second a month ago.

Odessa freshmen Milicent Wafula, Roukia Mouici and Salma Saddoug finished 3-4-6.

Division 2 men’s 8K

Lansing (Mich.) won a third straight Division 2 men’s title, totaling 32 points – lowest score since Rend Lake (Ill.) had 23 in 2003. Lansing runners  were 2-3-5-10-12, giving the program its ninth championship overall.

No. 3 Des Moines Area (Iowa) was second for the second year in a row, scoring 110. Thus Lansing’s margin was the largest since at least 2001.

 No. 4 Paradise Valley (Ariz.) was third with 127 and No. 6 Daytona State (Fla.) fourth with 168.

French sophomore Esteban Boisseau of Cowley (Kan.) won by nearly 13 seconds, clocking 26:15.8 for 8K.

Lansing’s Nate Carmody, Lucas Hopkins and Evan Suydam were 2-3-5. Brady Eagar of Paradise Valley was fourth.

Division 2 women’s 5K

No. 1 Mesa (Ariz.) repeated as Division 2 women’s champion, scoring 54 points.

 No. 2 Paradise Valley trailed by 68 after one kilometer and trimmed that deficit in half by 5K, scoring 87 for second. Paradise Valley was 1-2-3 in team scoring but had its fourth and fifth scorers in 28th and 53rd.

Daytona State was third and Cowley fourth, both with 220 points.

Arianna Mason won the 5K in 18:43.9, followed by teammates Audrey Encinas in third and Laynee Hollech in fourth. Savannah Rivera of Roane State (Tenn.) was second in 18:47.2.

The Thunderbirds countered with three top-10 finishers  – Kinley Jackson, fifth; Olivia Baker, sixth; Katie Munoz, ninth.

Division 3 men’s 8k

Top three teams among Division 3 men were all from Illinois.

No. 1 Harper won for the second time in three years, scoring 55 points. No. 2 College of DuPage, the defending champion, was second with 68.

It was Harper’s 10th championship in 14 years.

Joliet was third with 87 and Thaddeus Stevens (Pa.) fourth with 118.

Paul Clark of Ononadaga (N.Y.) upset defending champion Nathan Ciarlette of Joliet, winning by eight seconds in 26:50.0. Clark broke away in the last 2k. Ciarlette was bidding to be the first repeat winner since 2007-08.

Evan Schiefer of Terra State (Ohio) was third, ahead of Harper’s Sebastian Welc and Ryan Golden.

Division 3 women’s 5K

No. 3 College of DuPage won its first Division 3 women’s title, scoring 56 points. Defending champion No. 1 Mineral Area (Mo.) was second with 69.

 No. 2 Joliet was third with 78 and No. 5 Kellogg (Mich.) fourth with 108.

Laney Vecchio of RCSJ Gloucester (N.J.) won the 5K in 20:20.5, taking control after the first kilometer. Tyliyah Diaz-Cruz of Thaddeus Stevens, fifth last year, finished second in 20:32.8.

DuPage was led by third-place finisher Jessica Balmer. The Chaparrals were 2-10-11-14-19 in scoring.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.