The Cougar women head into the national meet ranked No. 3 in the final coaches’ poll, the highest ranking ever achieved by Azusa Pacific women’s cross country. The Cougar men are ranked No. 6.
The Cougar women are making their 14th consecutive appearance at the NAIA Championship Meet, the longest national championship appearance stretch by any team sport program in Azusa Pacific history. And this year’s squad is arguably the best in the program’s 28-year history.
“Up to this point, this is the best Azusa Pacific women’s team ever,” said third-year Cougar distance coach Preston Grey. “This group has produced the best team times and the best individual times all year.”
Evidence to Grey’s claim rests upon the Cougars’ collective 1:31:32 they recorded in capturing the NAIA Region II title 2 weeks ago in Fresno, clinching their automatic berth into the NAIAs. The five-some of Jacky Kipwambok, Jaime Canterbury, Becca Reyes, Olivia Richert and Kayla Carstensen broke the previous team standard of 1:31:49 set by the 2000 Cougars, a squad that finished fourth at the NAIAs for the best showing ever by a Cougar women’s team. Until this year -- perhaps.
Grey figures that Azusa Pacific should push for what he calls a “podium performance,” a finish somewhere among the top 4, which would certainly live up to the billing but there’s a chance the Cougars could get more – much more.
“We are completely healthy and absolutely ready to roll,” said Grey.
Standing in the Cougars’ way of the pinnacle of success is 4-time defending national champion Simon Fraser University (B.C.), a team the Cougars fell to in their only head-to-head meeting this year at the Stanford Invitational.
“There are no chinks in Simon Fraser’s armor,” said Grey. “They beat us solidly the one time we faced them. They’ll have to significantly mess up for someone else to win.”
Azusa Pacific figures to battle Cedarville College (Ohio) and Milligan University (Tenn.) in a sprint for second place.
“On paper, they look just as good as we do,” said Grey. “They run a tighter pack than us but they don’t have the 2 big front runners like we do.”
Indeed Kipwambok and Canterbury have the capability to become the first Cougars ever to win the NAIA individual crown. Earlier this year, Canterbury clocked a career-best 17:43 5K on the very course that the national championships will be staged. Kipwambok has been coming on strong in recent weeks, winning both the Golden State Athletic Conference and NAIA regional titles with times of 17:47 and 17:27, respectively, and with Canterbury finishing a close second in both races.
“With the way they are running right now, either Jacky or Jaime could win the individual title,” said Grey. “Jacky will lead the way but Jaime will be right there. They are running as well as any girl in the NAIA, and realistically I could see either one of them winning the race.”
How close Carstensen can stay to Reyes and Richert will be a key in the Cougars’ team success. Reyes has been the quiet contributor all year, oftentimes lost in the looming shadow cast by Canterbury and Kipwambok, and sometimes overlooked by a key performance from a No. 5 runner. Still Reyes has great times and could push for All-America recognition. Richert is the most experienced Cougar of them all, making her fourth NAIA Cross Country Championship appearance.
The challenge for the Cougar men to finish in the top four is much greater. While Azusa Pacific has the pre-meet favorite to win the individual race in junior Aron Rono, the rest of the Cougar pack has been beset all season by injuries and youthfulness
“To be on the podium at the end is going to be tough for the men,” said Grey. “It’s possible, but we are going to have to run better than we did at regionals.”
Rono has won ever race he has run as a Cougar but 2, and one that he didn’t win was last year’s NAIA championship meet, where he still finished a program-best-ever third, but it fell short of his desired a victory. A side stitch hit him early, and though he battled through it for two-thirds of the race, it still hampered him. The lingering memory of last year’s race has motivated Rono for the past year.
“I don’t know of anybody in this year’s field who is Aron’s equal,” said Grey. “He is in great shape and absolutely ready to go. He realizes that even if a stitch comes this year that he is more fit and can still get it done.”
The Cougar men are changing their race strategy for nationals, seeking to run more in a pack following Rono rather than pushing for a strong showing from its No. 2 runner. Grey is hopeful that the change in attack will bolster the Cougars’ chances to finish among the top 4.
“We packed our runners when we ran in Kenosha back in September and that was probably our best team race of the year,” said Grey.
The NAIA Championship Meet begins at 8:30 a.m. (PST) with the men’s race, followed by the women’s competition at 9:45 a.m. (PST). For the second year in a row and the 28th time in the meet’s 52-year history, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is hosting the meet in Kenosha, Wis., on the Dr. Wayne Dannehl Cross Country Course.
