Valparaiso, IN—Oral Roberts University women\'s cross country team won their first ever Mid-Continent Conference Championship Saturday, while the men had their best team finish taking home third place. The women were led by last year\'s reigning champion, Faithy Kamangila, who placed first again individually and Diana Chelimo who finished second.
Despite not running in a single 6k event all season, the Golden Eagle women took first ahead of preseason favorite and defending champion Southern Utah who placed second. The Thunderbird women had won the previous seven Mid-Con titles, while ORU\'s best previous finish was third in 2002.
The Oral Roberts men raced to their best-ever conference championship finish by placing third behind Oakland University, who placed first, and two-time defending Champion Southern Utah who placed second. The men\'s best previous finish was 5th in 1998 and 2004.
James Wanjiku paced the ORU men in the 8K race by placing second individually with time of 24:52.4. Adam Frezza of Oakland just beat Wanjiku, taking first in 24.51.3.
Wanjiku was selected to the All Mid-Con first team while teammates Shaun Smith and Prince Mumba were selected to All Mid-con second team. Meanwhile, the ORU women placed three on the All Mid-Con first team including Kamangila, Chelimo, and Mable Kunihira. Sanna Kouba also ran well and was selected to the All Mid-Con second team for the ORU women.
ORU Women: ORU Men:
1 Faithy Kamangila 21:19.2 2 James Wanjiku 24:52.4
2 Diana Chelimo 21:23.1 9 Shaun Smith 25:37.7
5 Mable Kunihira 22.22.7 14 Prince Mumba 26:00.3
14 Sanna Kouba 23:02.7 18 Adrian Foster 26:21.1
29 Catherine Angwech 24:06.2 30 David Zahn 27:27.9
35 Kara Cassel 24:36.1 59 Richard Petzold 33:56.9
40 Glennis Seldon 25:03.3 62 Jonathan Rivers 34:54.2