Kinyanjui, Stewart Set For National Cross Country Meet
11/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | General
Nov. 21, 2004
Mary Kinyanjui and Calandra Stewart will represent the TCU Horned Frogs at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday, November 22. The NCAA meet will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women's 6,000 meter run will begin at 11 a.m. (ET), while the men will compete in a 10K distance beginning at 12:15 p.m.
Kinyanjui, a senior from Kiambu, Kenya, will be competing for the final time as a Horned Frog. The most decorated TCU female cross country athlete in school history, Kinyanjui is looking to become the first female cross country All-American in TCU history. She already is a two-time South Central Region champion and a two-time Conference USA champion and was recently named to the Conference USA All-Decade team. She captured her second regional title last Saturday in Waco, posting a winning time with a personal best mark of 20:09. Kinyanjui placed 45th at the NCAA Championships a year ago with a time of 20:51.5. The top 30 runners earn All-America recognition.
"I really wanted to defend my region title," Kinyanjui said after the race in Waco. "I was going to give it everything I had no matter what because this was my last chance to make it to nationals. I wanted to defend both my conference title and my regional title. "I was able to do that. Now I want to finish in the top 30 at nationals and make All-American. That's my goal. No one at TCU has done that.
"I hope it's not as cold as last year (when the national meet was held in sub-freezing temperatures in Waterloo, Iowa)," added Kinyanjui. "But if it is, I'll be ready for it."
Stewart, a sophomore from Houston, earned an at-large bid by placing ninth overall at the South Central Region in Waco last Saturday. She covered the 6K distance in a personal best time of 20:59. She is making her first trip to the NCAA Championships.
Glady's Keitany is the only other TCU female to compete in two NCAA Cross Country Championships. Keitany, who also was named to the Conference USA All-Decade team, placed 40th at the NCAA meet in 2000, then narrowly missed All-America honors in 2001 when she placed 31st overall with a time of 21:20. Eliud Njubi is the lone TCU athlete to earn All-America honors in cross country. The standout distance runner from Kenya placed 28th at the NCAA Championships in 2000.
