Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Frogs claim men’s and women’s individual titles
By Quinten Boyd
Skiff Staff

The men’s and women’s cross country teams entered Saturday’s season opener at the UTA Movin’ Mavs Cross Country Challenge with the hopes of continuing their ascent in the rankings.

The women’s team took their first step toward that goal with a second place finish.

The men finished last.

“(Saturday’s) meet was a good way to gauge our preparation and performance,” cross country head coach Daniel Waters said.

TCU runners Glady’s Keitany and Eliud Njubi, both juniors, picked up impressive victories in the women’s and men’s divisions of the tournament. Keitany won the women’s individual title in a time of 11:18 and Njubi won the men’s title with a time of 19:54. The victories were not enough to take the team honors, however, as Baylor claimed the overall titles in both divisions.

Keitany finished 22 seconds in front of the second place finisher, Baylor’s Kara Newton. Keitany, the Western Athletic Conference’s individual champion in 2000, won her fifth individual title in two years. The performance drew compliments from Waters.

“Glady’s had a great race on Saturday and she looks very good for the rest of the season,” Waters said.

Njubi finished 20 seconds ahead of Baylor’s Matt Chance. Njubi earned All-America status last season as a sophomore.

“Eliud (Njubi) did wonderful on Saturday,” Waters said. “He trained in Kenya over the summer and then took a month off to rest up for the upcoming season. It was a great race for him.”

In the women’s team standings, Baylor finished first with TCU coming in second place. The Frogs were followed by Oklahoma, North Texas and Southern Methodist. Host Texas-Arlington received no team score.

In the men’s team standings, Baylor took home first place, followed by North Texas, Oklahoma, Texas-Arlington, Southern Methodist and TCU.

Waters was pleased with the Frogs performance and said it is indicative of the kind of season the team will have.

“The men have a good mix of youth and experience,” Waters said. “This year, we’d like to see individual success as well as great experience for our younger runners. As for the women, we have seven seniors this year and we hope to give them a strong year and maybe a national championship.”

The cross country team’s next race is at the Baylor Invitational Sept. 22 in Waco.

Quinten Boyd
q.m.boyd@student.tcu.edu