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Oct. 25, 2008
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's cross country team won the MEAC Championships and the men's team was second Saturday, as the Hawks missed out on becoming the first conference school since 1992 to win both titles in consecutive years. The Lady Hawks beat out Norfolk State (73) and Hampton (108) for title, scoring 55 points. It is the school's third women's cross country MEAC championship in history.
"In retrospect, I'll tell you that these young ladies really pulled off a big one for us," said MEAC Most Outstanding Coach award recipient Ernest Barrett. "I'm extremely proud of these men and women, they did a great job."
UMES had four of the top-11 runners in the five-kilometer event with Naomi Tanui of Coppin State reclaiming her course record which was broken by NSU's Jennifer Chichester at the Hawk Challenge earlier this month. Tanui ran 17:35.35.
Tamica Thomas (St. Catherine, Jamaica) and Celia Whyte (Manchester, Jamaica) were seventh and eighth in 18:39.70 and 18:41.40, respectively.
Eunice Jones (Lanham, Md.) in 18:52.49 and Merrecia James (Portland Jamaica) in 18:57.57, finished 10th and 11th, while Cynthia Anais (Paris, France) finished 19th in 19.28.40.
On the men's side the Hawks, who scored 82 points, edged Delaware State (98) for second. Norfolk took the top spot in the eight-kilometer race. The Spartans secured the championship with 27 points. Dominic Luka of Norfolk won the individual crown, crossing in 25:27.11.
"[Taking second place] surprised me because I had one of my assistant coaches running stats for me and he said that `there's a possibility that Del. State beat you,'" Barrett said.
"Last week after they beat us at the meet [in Newark, Del.], they were like `yeah, we're going to beat you next week,'" Barrett continued. "So it seemed like it was going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy."
Peter Sang (Kapsabet, Kenya) and Amon Kiprotich (Kapsabet, Kenya) were second and third with times of 25:40.47 and 25:55.27.
The Hawks' third scorer Shadrock Maritim (Kericho, Kenya) managed to finish 15th despite losing a shoe with over three miles remaining. He crossed in 27:38.85.
"[When Shadrack lost his shoe], I was thinking, `man we don't have a chance at this thing and pulling it out, but they hung in there and pulled off a second place," Barrett said. "That was the icing on the cake with the women's meet."
Jerome Pyuzza (Laurel, Md.) and Solomon Kirongo (Nairobi, Kenya) rounded out the UMES scorers and were 29th and 33rd in 28:57.06 and 29:12.25.
Betty Chumbe (Nairobi, Kenya) finished in 20:22.41 for the Lady Hawks. She was followed by Janeth Chelangat (Nairobi, Kenya) in 20:48.59 and Danai Lendor (Lawrenceville, N.J), who ran 21:13.07.
Tiffany Webb Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Jessica Abrantes (Scotch Plains, N.J.) also finished for UMES in 21:17.37 and 21:38.37, respectively.
Mamadou Diallo (Hyattsville, Md.) in 30:43.00 and Paul Jones-Burden (Rahway, N.J.) in 31:48.30 also finished the men's race.
"My philosophy with cross country is that the pack always wins," said Barrett. "If you run as a team that's how you win championships." |
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