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Oct. 27, 2006
CARY, N.C. - The UMES men's and women's cross country teams wrapped up their regular season Friday morning at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship. Senior Alfred Singoei (Nairobi, Kenya/Iowa State) ran the 8K course in 25:07.3 to take third overall in the men's race while sophomore Merrecia James (Port Antonia, Jamaica/G.C. Foster) covered the course in 17:59.7 to finish as the women's runner up. The men's squad placed two spots higher than last year with their second place finish (97 points) while the women's squad jumped four spots from last year with a fifth place finish (109 points). Solomon Kirongo (Nairobi, Kenya/Kipkabus) joined Singoei in the top 15 for the Fighting Hawks with an individual time of 26:56.4, good for 11th overall. Sophomores Janeth Chelangat (Nairobi, Kenya/Kipsigis) and Betty Chumbe (Nairobi, Kenya/Egerton) joined James in the top 15 in the women's race with their fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively, in 18:13.1 and 18:16.6. Singoei, James, Chelangat and Chumbe all finished the day with personal records. "Overall it was a great day," said Head Coach Ernest Barrett. "We saw a lot of personal records today and I am really proud of the improvement from last season." UMES is off for two weeks, next taking the course on Nov. 11 for the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional. Below is the official MEAC Media Relations Release: The Hampton University women and the Norfolk State University men captured the 2006 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship titles Friday morning at the SAS Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. Norfolk State won its seventh consecutive MEAC title, scoring 25 total points. The Lady Pirates, who scored 63 points, won their second overall title and their first since the 2004 season.
Howard's Jessica Neal and Norfolk State's David Kemboi were named MEAC Outstanding Performers. Neal, a transfer from Ohio State, finished first in the women's race with a personal best time of 17:47.3 and Kemboi finished with a time of 24:29.3 to win the men's race for the second consecutive year. "This was a good course, Hampton's Krystle Medlin (last year's outstanding performer) and some of the runners from Maryland Eastern Shore paced the race. We ran in a pack and I came from the back to win, said Neal." "The course was different from last year, said Kemboi. So I had to make some adjustments. Overall it was a good race and our team did very well." Hampton's Maurice Pierce was named the Outstanding Coach for the women and Kenneth Giles of Norfolk State was selected the Outstanding Coach for the men. "Last year's third place finish was unfamiliar to us due to injuries, said Pierce. This year, we were prepared and healthy. This is a plus for us starting out the track and field season." "Winning the MEAC cross country championship was one of our goals this year, in our quest to repeat this season, replied Giles. All of our runners ran quality races this season and it helped us prepare for both the conference championships and the NCAA Nationals." On the women's side, Howard was second (93), followed by Norfolk State (95), Morgan State (96) and the University of Maryland Eastern (109). For the men, second place went to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (97) , followed by last year's runners-up Florida A&M (99), Delaware State (117) and North Carolina A&T (119). |
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