Keitany, Njubi Claim C-USA Cross Country Individual Titles
10/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | General
Oct. 27, 2001
Greenville, North Carolina - TCU's Glady's Keitany and Eliud Njubi easily claimed the individual titles in Saturday's Conference USA Cross Country Championships. Led by Keitany's first-place showing, the TCU women placed third overall. Njubi led the TCU men to an eighth-place finish.
Keitany won for the fourth time in five events this fall. She finished the 6,000 meter course with a time of 19:44, 22 seconds ahead of runnerup Tara Quinn (20:06) of South Florida. Keitany's title was her second straight conference championship. Last year, Keitany won the Western Athletic Conference Cross Country championship.
"Glady's won rather convincingly", said cross country coach Derek Koonts. "Her time was unreal. She got off to a great start and maintained her lead throughout the entire race. I thought the women's team ran well, especially the top three (Keitany, Cindy Dietrich, Robin Schacht). In this conference, a third-place finish is very respectable."
In addition to Keitany, Dietrich and Schacht earned all-conference honors with their strong performances. Dietrich finished sixth with a time of 20:22, while Schacht placed 13th with a time of 20:43.
Njubi also won for the fourth time this season, raising his career total to eight titles in his two years at TCU. He finished the 8,000 meter course with a time of 23:09, 13 seconds ahead of Solomon Kandie of Tulane. Like Keitany, Njubi was also the 2000 WAC Cross Country champion.
"Eliud ran very well today", said Koonts. "He was in control of the race from the very beginning."
In the overall team competition, Tulane claimed the men's championship with 61 points, two ahead of runnerup Marquette. The TCU men finished the race with 220 points.
In the women's race, Marquette claimed the team title with 46 points. South Florida was second with 60 points, while the TCU women were third with 85 points.
