MT Earns Best Finish in History at NCAA Championships

Saturday, November 18

Louisville, Ky.

9 AM

Middle Tennessee

NCAA Cross Country Championships

11/18/2017 12:12:00 PM | Track & Field/Cross Country

Highlights

The Blue Raiders placed 23rd with Choge and Chemadi earning All-American honors.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 22 Middle Tennessee men's cross country team raced to their best finish in school history at the NCAA National Championships this morning, Sat. Nov. 18. The Blue Raiders finished in 23^rd place.

MT was led by Kigen Chemadi who recorded a 23^rd place finish, the highest by a Blue Raider in school history. Jacob Choge finished in 34^th place, besting his 40^th place finish at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Both Chemadi and Choge earned All-American status for their finishes.

Chemadi's time of 29:45.33 was a personal best as was Sampson Laari's time of 30:56.16. Amos Cheruiyot and Geoffry Cheruiyot rounded out to the Raider racers with times of 31:25.65 and 33:09.20 on the 10k course.

Under windy conditions, Laari and Choge sprinted in front of the pack to lead the group of 250 runners through the first several hundred meters of the course. Choge remained with the main pack until Gilbert Kigen of Alabama, Justyn Knight of Syracuse, and Matthew Baxter and Tyler Day of Northern Arizona separated themselves from the group. Knight was the eventual repeat champion, outsprinting the NAU pair down the final stretch. NAU took the team title however.

As a team, the Raiders bested No. 7 Furman, No. 11 Michigan State, No. 18 Oklahoma State, No. 21 Texas, No. 26 Utah State, No. 27 Washington State, No. 28 Princeton and RV Navy.

Ednuh Kurgat of New Mexico won the women's race helping the Lobos to the team title as well.

QUOTABLE

"It was a great day and coming in and even just making the national championships is a big deal and being one of the top 32 teams in the country. We came out there and put together a really good race, number 23 and best place in school history so I'm very happy with where we're at." – AHC Keith Vroman on the team's nationals performance

"Kigen ran a real smart race, it was extremely windy so for smaller guys like Choge it makes it a little more difficult. Kigen Chemadi again had the best race that he's had. He put up two great races in back to back weekends at the NCAA Regional and then here at Nationals, so I can't be happier for him. To have two All-Americans in one year is a big deal. This is improvement for Jacob from last year and for Kigen as well. For Kigen to go from being in the 100's last year to being 23, I'm very happy with where we are at." AHC Keith Vroman on Chemadi and Choge's All-American performances

FULL RESULTS

Men's Top Five
1. Northern Arizona (74)
2. Portland (127)
3. BYU (165)
4. Stanford (221)
5. Arkansas (259)
23. Middle Tennessee (513)

Middle Tennessee Individual Results (10k)
23. Kigen Chemadi (26:45.33)
34. Jacob Choge (29:55.59)
125. Sampson Laari (30:56.16)
181. Amos Cheruiyot (31:25.65)
244. Geoffry Cheruiyot (33:09.20)
250. Nathan Mack (35:14.74)