Meet Results
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The 13
th ranked West Texas A&M men's cross country team raced to a fifth place finish in the non-Division I field at the 26
th annual Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. on Saturday morning. The Buffs also placed 14
th overall among all divisions and third among DII teams in the 8K race which was hosted by the University of Arkansas and held at Agri Park Cross Country Course.
There were over 16 Division I programs who participated in the event with several Division II powers making an appearance as well. On the men's side, No. 17 Arkansas highlighted the pack while three ranked DII members competed. Alongside the No. 13 Buffs were No.15 Missouri Southern and No.18 Sioux Falls.
The entire men's field consisted of 430 competitors from 47 teams. In the non-DI field, the Buffs finished fifth out of 27 teams with a score of 109 points. Finishing first was Oklahoma City (NAIA) with 61 points followed by No. 18 Sioux Falls (DII) in second with 71 points, No. 15 Missouri Southern (DII) in third with 87 points, and Iowa Central Community College in fourth with 92 points.
"I thought we had a great team effort from top to bottom today in a championships type race," commented head coach
Darren Flowers. "There were 430 runners in today's race and that can't be simulated anywhere else. For us to finish 14
th amongst such a stacked Division 1 field, I feel pretty good about where we are at. We trained through this meet and came away relatively healthy. Schaefer suffered a calf injury so I'm hoping that it's not anything too serious and we can have him when the championships roll around."
The Buffs were led once again by freshman
Geoffrey Kipchumba who finished 25
th overall (seven points) with a time of 24:47.00. Coming across next for WT were senior
Brett Villarreal in 45
th (14 points, 25:06.2) and sophomore
Steve Lagat in 76
th place (20 points, 25:36.7). Rounding out the scorers for the Buffs were senior
Baptiste Moreu in 97
th place (31 points, 25:49.3) and junior
Zach Daniel in 115
th place (37 points, 26:01.00).
The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival was established to bring together three separate Northwest Arkansas cross-country races under one single event. It is now one of the premier running events in America and each year over 80 college teams and 120 high school teams race for prestige and unique Chile Pepper themed awards. Additionally, 750 individuals participate in the Open 10K and 5K Fun Run along with the New Tom Lewis 1 Mile Pepper Dash on the night before. The event is held at the University of Arkansas' off road course and all runners are invited to enjoy a Hot Mexican food feast following the race.
This year, the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival celebrated its 26th year and hosted approximately 5,000 runners and over 5,000 spectators this weekend. The support of sponsors, runners, and athletes has contributed more than $314,000 to Northwest Arkansas cross-country programs. $42,000 was donated to area programs in 2013.
WT will return to action next Friday evening as they host the third-annual Wagonwheel Dual against Lone Star Conference rival Eastern New Mexico. The meet will be held at The Range on the campus of West Texas A&M. The women (6K) are scheduled to run at 6 p.m. followed by the men (8K) at 6:30 p.m.
