Women 9th at cross country nationals

Results
  CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – It wasn't what they were hoping for, but the Wayland Baptist women still turned in a top-10 finish at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships here Friday morning. The Pioneers placed ninth, the fourth-best finish in school history.

"It was not a good day," Wayland coach Brian Whitlock, who expected his team to contend for the title, said. "We just didn't run well. We were expecting better results and just didn't get it.

"It's pretty disappointing."

After an off-day at the conference meet two weeks earlier when Wayland finished second and fell from No. 1 to No. 10 in the national rankings, Whitlock hoped the Pioneers would regroup and bring home the school's first-ever national title in cross country.

On a chilly morning at Seminole Valley Cross Country Course, that didn't happen.

"With the amount of talent we have on this team, it's disappointing," Whitlock said.

Senior Jackline Jemeli led the Pioneers by finishing in 20^th place, and Wayland finished with 289 points. Oregon Tech won with 126 points, followed by Madonna (Mich.) in second with 132 and Taylor (Ind.) in third with 134. Oklahoma City University, which won the SAC title, placed 13^th in the 36-team field with 382 points.

As expected, the temperature was cold: 32 degrees with a wind chill of 21.

"The wind was blowing pretty good," Whitlock said.

But the coach refused to use that as an excuse for his team built around student-athletes from warm-weather climates.

"It's the same cold for everybody. Cross country is all about mental toughness, and at the end of the day some of my kids just have to get tougher. It's a rarity for my teams not to (be mentally tough)."

Whitlock said Jemeli was the only one of his seven runners to perform up to her standards.

"I thought she did a really good job. To miss 10 days (with an injury; she sat out the conference meet) and finish as an all-American is impressive. I'm real happy with her."

It is Jemeli's third all-American honor. The top 30 finishers earn that distinction.

"Jackline developed into someone we can always depend on. She always comes through," Whitlock said. "I'm happy she ended her (cross country) career on a strong note, but I hate that we didn't do better on what should have been our best team. This team, on paper, is much better than last year's" which finished second.

Also for Wayland, junior Teresha Jacobs (18:13.5) and sophomore Jackline Cherono (18:13.8) placed 37^th and 38^th, respectively.

Whitlock said Cherono was tripped by accident and fell some 800 meters in to the 5-kilometer race. As a result she went from about 20^th place to close to 60^th.

"That really destroyed her race. Considering that, I thought she did a good job of getting back up there."

Freshman Prudence Kiyeng (18:58), who expects to have gall bladder surgery soon, was 127^th. Senior Tiffany Cano (19:08) finished 152^nd, junior Tanya Pavez (20:30) 291^st, and sophomore Taylor Williams (20:33) 295^th.

A total of 340 runners participated. The race was won by Anna Shields of Point Park, Pa., in 17:15. Emily Kearney of SCAD-Atlanta was runner-up in 17:19, followed in third by OCU's Lydia Mato in 17:29.

On the men's side, WBU freshman Martin Harding, who qualified for nationals as an individual by finishing eighth at conference, came across 217^th out of 330 runners on the 8-kilometer course.

"Martin did OK," Whitlock said. "He got some good experience. Maybe we can build on that. He has a lot of talent. He will do all right moving forward."

OCU won the men's team title with 116 points, ahead of Indiana Wesleyan in second with 143. The individual winner was junior Colin De Young of Cornerstone (Mich.) in 24:12.

Whitlock now turns his sights on indoor track season, which gets under way in January. The Pioneer men and women are the defending NAIA champions, and the WBU women are the two-time defending U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Program of the Year.

"We'll be upset about this for a while and hopefully regroup and have a good track season. Maybe we can build on this and get a lot better."