Published: November 21, 2006 12:06 am            

Kenya native from Texas Tech cruises to victory in women’s race

TERRE HAUTE — Texas Tech sophomore Sally Kipyego became the first Kenyan woman to capture an NCAA cross country individual championship Monday, and the Stanford Cardinal women’s team celebrated a repeat national championship behind the strength of five runners among the top 62.

While men from Kenya have a long, rich history of distance running success with more than 40 Olympic medals and several NCAA titles, only recently have Kenyan women been finding their way to colleges in the United States and pursuing professional running careers.

Kipyego took any potential drama out of the individual title race from the beginning in the fourth NCAAs contested at LaVern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.

The transfer from South Plains Junior College led from the start and took the first right turn and headed uphill and left the rest of the field behind.

“Being in front was very important to me,” said Kipyego, who didn’t lose a race all season and as recently as nine days ago defeated national runner-up Jenny Barringer by 45 seconds for the second time.

“It was tough coming in knowing that,” Barringer said.

Kipyego only started running five years ago so her future could be a bright one on the world running scene. Having began running competitively in 2000, Kipyego said she is very proud that she will earn her degree in nursing.

“I know you can’t run forever,” said Kipyego, adding that she hopes she can set an example for many other Kenyan women to come study and run in the United States.

When some F-16 jets roared overhead in between questions for Colorado coach Mark Wetmore, he bantered “must be Sally cooling down.”

Barringer’s previous meetings with Kipyego gave her a good idea what she was up against Monday. The Buffaloes’ sophomore finished just 16.8 seconds behind Kipyego’s time of 20:11.

“I feel so awesome right now,” said Barringer, adding that the mud made for a fun race. “The turns were tough today … It was really, really muddy… There was a lot of slipping and sliding, but it was a lot of fun. When you have mud splashing up on your face and going everywhere and you’ve given everything to get across the line, it really shows how hard you’re working. So even though it’s muddy and slippery, it was a lot of fun.”

The mud wasn’t so much fun for a few runners that lost her shoes. Some were returned, but Indiana State men’s coach John McNichols reported that he found a shoe when combing the course for trash hours after the races. “We’ve had muddy meets before but nothing like this,” McNichols said.

The loss of a shoe to No. 5-ranked Arkansas’ fifth runner Christine Kalmer may have cost the Razorbacks, who placed fifth.

Berringer and her No. 6 Buffalo teammates also had a tough task in trying to thwart a Stanford team led by junior returning All-American Arianna Lambie. Lambie placed fourth after trying in vein to catch Kipyego past the 5K mark, placing just behind Yale’s Lindsay Donaldson and just ahead of N.C. State’s Julia Lucas.

“I went out conservative, but I didn’t want to finish the race feeling like I had a whole lot left,” Barringer said. “I think I dug as deep today as I’ve ever dug in my life. I’m really, really proud of my finish.”

Colorado coach Mark Wetmore had two women’s national championships under his belt before collecting his third men’s title Monday.

“I’m as happy with the women finishing second as I am with the men winning the title,” Wetmore said. “They’re a very young team. There’s four freshmen and a woman who’s never even been to a conference championship before. So for them to manage the madness of this event and stay calm and execute their own race plan, it was maybe lucky but also a testimony to their faith in our preparation and each other.”

Coach Peter Tegen was business as usual with the Cardinal collecting a second straight national title. The Cardinal coach, who won back-to-back national titles for the Wisconsin women’s team in 1984-85 has repeated that feat for Stanford.

It was a matter of keeping his runners focused on the team’s goal, said Tegen, a native of Germany.

“We wanted to make sure not to do extracurricular, heroic, or special things during the race,” he said. “Make sure they just ran to their best ability.”

The conditions had Tegen somewhat concerned for his team, but a wet regional in Portland helped provide “a good christening for that environment.”

“When this kind of [muddy] environment happens, it evens the playing field quite drastically,” he said.

Big Ten champion and No. 10 Michigan finished third and Wisconsin fourth. The Big Ten had five teams ranked in the top 10 coming into the championships. Three finished that high, with Midwest Regional champion Illinois taking seventh.

Kipyego led No. 13 Texas Tech to a sixth-place team finish. Senior Irene Kimaiyo took ninth place overall. Providence in seventh, U.C. Santa Barbara in ninth and Duke rounded out the top 10 teams. Minnesota and No. 4 Michigan State were just outside the top 10 at 11th and 12th.

        

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