Kigen Ready For NCAA Championships on Monday
11/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | General
Nov. 23, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU distance runner Festus Kigen will represent the Horned Frogs at the 2008 NCAA Championships on Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.
Start time for the men's race will be at approximately 11:48 a.m. (CT) at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Fans interested in watching Kigen run can do so by tuning into CBS College Sports between 11-12:30 CT on Monday.
"With this being my second year competing at nationals, I expect to do good. I am definitely going to do better with my performance this type around because I know the course and I know what it takes to compete in that type of environment. I am very confident," said Kigen.
Overall, Kigen has led TCU in every meet he has run in this fall and finished 4th overall at the South Central Regional to punch his ticket to nationals. At the South Central Regional, Kigen, who was named to the all-region squad last week, finished the men's 10K race with a time of 30:35.0 to record his highest regional finish of his career and TCU's highest men's finish since 2005.
Kigen opened the month of Nov., earning runner-up honors at the Mountain West Conference Cross Country Championships. The Eldoret, Kenya, native, crossed the finish line in 24:25 to earn the highest-finish for a Horned Frog on the men's side in MWC history.
"It means a lot to have Festus back at nationals," said distance coach Shawn Winget. "Last year it was a good learning experience, but now he has expectations. What we are looking for is for him to become an All-American and I think he can do that this Monday."
During the regular-season, Kigen picked up Mountain West Athlete of the Week honors by clocking a personal-best 8K time of 24:18 at the Cowboy Jamboree. He followed that up by posting a time of 29:44.11 at the Chile Pepper Festival, which currently is the third-fastest 10K time in the conference. Kigen's 6K time of 18:40:93, which was set at the Baylor Twilight, leads the conference, while he has finished in the top-10 in five different meets this fall.
Players Mentioned
