Virginia Intermont College, in only its second year of fielding a team,
amassed 83 points to finish second at the men's NAIA National Outdoor
Track & Field Championships held this weekend in Louisville, KY.
Intermont posted 67 points on the final day of competition to move from
fifth to second, surpassing indoor national champions Lindenwood
College by two points. Dickinson State (Nd.) defended its national
outdoor title with 99 points.
Virginia Intermont was bolstered by five individual event champions,
the
second highest total in NAIA history. Fernando Cabada took home two
national event titles, winning the 10,000-meters Thursday night in
29:53.09 and coming back on Saturday to win the 5,000-meters in
14:42.08. David Cheromei, runner-up to Cabada in the 5k at 14:44.78,
nearly broke the national record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase
earlier in the day, winning with a personal best of 8:45.43, less than
five seconds off Sammy Nyamongo's record of 8:40.98.
Corey Duquette paced the entire 10k on Thursday night, only to finish
third behind Cabada and NAIA national cross country champion Soimo
Kiplagat of Lindenwood three seconds back at 29:56.85. Duquette still
had a taste for a title and rallied in the 1500-meters, after a
pedestrian 2:06 opening 800-meters, to best a stellar field with a
3:49.45. His sub-55-second finishing 400 earned him the title, while
teammate Elkana Chepsiror moved to finish second in 3:50.90. Chepsiror
had his turn at the tape less than two hours later winning the
800-meters in 1:51.05.
Mudasar Haidat contributed in the early morning hours finishing second
in the marathon with his surprise 2:27:00 debut, beating cross country
national champion Kiplagat in the process. All five Cobras earned
All-American awards for their efforts, while teammates Jason Lewis and
Steeve Gabart contributed points with their seventh place 800-meter and
eighth place 5,000-meter finishes, respectively.
The top 10 team finishers were: 1-Dickinson State (99); 2-Virginia
Intermont (83); 3-Lindenwood, Mo. (81); 4-Oklahoma Baptist (76);
5-Azusa Pacific, Ca. (46); 6-Southern Oregon (42); 7-Malone, Oh. (29);
8-Doane, Nb. (28); 9-Wayland Baptist, Tx. (26); 10-Hastings, Ne. (23).
Virginia Intermont finished the year as the NAIA's best cross country
and track program. The Cobras won the cross country national title in
the fall, while taking the runner-up spot in both the indoor and
outdoor track championships. Lindenwood was next best with its third
place cross country and outdoor track finishes and its indoor national
title.
Virginia Intermont College, in only its second year of fielding a team,
amassed 83 points to finish second at the men's NAIA National Outdoor
Track & Field Championships held this weekend in Louisville, KY.
Intermont posted 67 points on the final day of competition to move from
fifth to second, surpassing indoor national champions Lindenwood
College by two points. Dickinson State (Nd.) defended its national
outdoor title with 99 points.
Virginia Intermont was bolstered by five individual event champions,
the
second highest total in NAIA history. Fernando Cabada took home two
national event titles, winning the 10,000-meters Thursday night in
29:53.09 and coming back on Saturday to win the 5,000-meters in
14:42.08. David Cheromei, runner-up to Cabada in the 5k at 14:44.78,
nearly broke the national record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase
earlier in the day, winning with a personal best of 8:45.43, less than
five seconds off Sammy Nyamongo's record of 8:40.98.
Corey Duquette paced the entire 10k on Thursday night, only to finish
third behind Cabada and NAIA national cross country champion Soimo
Kiplagat of Lindenwood three seconds back at 29:56.85. Duquette still
had a taste for a title and rallied in the 1500-meters, after a
pedestrian 2:06 opening 800-meters, to best a stellar field with a
3:49.45. His sub-55-second finishing 400 earned him the title, while
teammate Elkana Chepsiror moved to finish second in 3:50.90. Chepsiror
had his turn at the tape less than two hours later winning the
800-meters in 1:51.05.
