AZUSA, Calif – The NAIA’s No. 1-ranked Azusa Pacific is the pre-meet favorite to successfully defend its title when the 30th Annual NAIA Women’s Cross Country Championship Meet starts Saturday (Nov. 21) in Vancouver, Wash.
And though the Cougars, who have been the NAIA’s top-billed school since mid-September, have already knocked off the Nos. 2-, 3-, and 4-ranked teams, they will be far from a lock to become only the third school ever to repeat as the national champion.
“This is a 3-team race,” said fifth-year head coach Preston Grey. “Cal State San Marcos and Simon Fraser both ran great at their qualifying meets 2 weeks ago. We beat them 4 weeks ago by 15 points, which in a bigger field like the one we’ll see at nationals really isn’t that big of a spread. They both have a legitimate shot at the title, and this year’s race will be closer than last year’s.”
Two-time NAIA individual runner-up Jacky Kipwambok is hoping that this will be the year she breaks through and wins her first NAIA individual crown after finishing second to teammate Jaime Canterbury in 2007 and Indiana Tech’s Alissa McKaig in 2009. Kipwambok has won all 5 of her races this year and has taken 11 of the past 14 she has entered. She is coming off her third straight Golden State Athletic Conference championship – just the second athlete in conference history to win 3 in a row – and has averaged an impressive 16:56 over a quartet of 5Ks that she has run this season.
“Jacky has run great all year,” said Grey. “She took a very strong showing at last year’s outdoor track & field championships and gained a new-found confidence that has allowed her to become a dominant runner. “
Kipwambok’s pursuit of that seemingly ever-elusive NAIA title will include another stiff challenge along the way. Sophomore Justyna Mudy of Shorter College, a 25-year old Poland native who clocked a 17:16 to win the Southern States Athletic Conference crown 2 weeks ago, will push Kipwambok from gun to tape.
“In terms of the team title, whether Jacky wins or not is not a big factor for us,” said Grey. “The national team title will come down to how the rest of the team does.”
In winning the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem, Ore., back on Oct. 3, the Cougars achieved a season-low 67-second gap between their first and fifth runners. When they knocked off Simon Fraser and Cal State San Marcos 4 weeks ago at the Biola Invitational, the Cougars managed a 68-second gap.
“If we put the same type of race out there that we’ve raced all year long, one in which we maintain a 60- to 70-second gap split, we’re going to be really difficult to beat at nationals,” added Grey.
Thus people like sophomore Lauren Jimison and freshman Poppy Lawman along with juniors Kayla Carstensen and Victoria Martinez become vitally important in Azusa Pacific achieving its national championship aspirations.
Once recovered from a summer injury and able to establish a solid base of fitness, Jimison emerged as a potential All-American, capping her season thus far with a personal-best 17:22 (third best time in program history) to easily finish in second at GSACs behind Kipwambok. Jimison has steadily lowered her PRs all season, running four sub-18s along the way.
Lawman has been a pleasant surprise, proving to be the top freshman in an underclass-laden GSAC. She finished fourth at the conference meet with a cruising 17:59. She has a pair of season-best 17:47s to her credit this season.
Carstensen, who has quietly run in the shadows throughout her entire collegiate career, put together a breakout 2009 junior campaign by running a pair of sub-18s and collecting her first-ever All-GSAC honor.
Martinez opened the season with impressive showings at the Cal State Fullerton Season-Opener and the UC Riverside Invitational, running as the No. 2 Cougar in both races which included a PR of 17:29 at UCR for the fifth fastest 5K in school history. However, a stomach ailment has slowed her progress and her ability to grit out the pain on Saturday will be key in Azusa Pacific garnering a second national championship.
Grey acknowledges that the race will turn on the efforts of Lawman, Carstensen and Martinez, but he is not concerned nor pressed as the Cougars make their way to the Pacific Northwest.
“I don’t feel like there’s any more pressure on us now than what we’ve been running with all year,” said Grey. “We don’t need to do anything that we have already done this year. This is Poppy’s and Victoria’s first national championship meet but I have all the confidence in the world in them.”
Rain and temperatures in the 40s await the approximately 650 runners, both male and female, who will compete in Saturday’s meet at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site.
“The times will probably be slower than in years past,” said Grey. “It will be a muddy course with lots of turns and thick grass. It’s going to be a slug-it-out type of meet. Weather is what you make of it. We went to Kenosha last year and ran in 30-degree weather. It didn’t seem to affect our performance.”
It certainly didn’t as the Cougars won their first-ever national championship while the Cougar men finished second.
The Cougar men won’t have a chance to improve or at the very least repeat. They did not qualify as a team for the national championship meet after finishing third at GSACs. However, a pair of Cougars, juniors Abednego Magut and J.J. Timphony did qualify for the NAIAs on individual showings at GSAC. In fact, Magut, the GSAC champion, is expected to press for his first-ever NAIA men’s title, hopefully lengthening a string of Cougar victories after fellow Kenyan and Cougar Aron Rono took the NAIA men’s crown each of the past 2 years.
“Abednego is in great shape and ready to go after the title,” said Grey. “He’s not a heavy favorite like Aron was that past 2 years, but he certainly has a good chance to win it.”
For the first time since the NAIA began staging cross country national championships with a men’s race back in 1956, the national meet is being held west of the Rockies. For 24 of the past 28 years, Kenosha, Wis., has been the host site of the NAIA meet. The 1973 and 1974 championship meets in Salina, Kan., was as far west as the meet had gone until this year.
“We’re excited to stay on the west coast,” added Grey. “There is no time adjustment for us, plus many more of our family members will be able to witness and support the team effort.”
The NAIA Championship Meet begins with the men’s race at 10:30 a.m. (PST) followed by the women’s race at 11:45 a.m.
Click here for additional information on the 2009 NAIA Cross Country Championship Meet.
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