Saturday, November 21, 2015

JOPLIN, Mo. – Led by a third place finish by Henry Cheseto, Alaska Anchorage capped off a banner season with a third place team finish at the NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country Championships, held on the campus of Missouri Southern State University.

The GNAC and West Region champion added a second All-American trophy to his inventory, covering the 10,000-meter course in a time of 29:35.6. Cheseto finished just nine seconds behind champion Alfred Chelanga of Shorter, who crossed in a time of 29:24.6. Vincent Kiprop placed second in 29:33.7.

The Seawolves placed all five scoring runners in the top-75 to capture a third place finish with a score of 138 points. They not only improved on their sixth place finish from 2014, but tied their own performance from 2012 as the best team finish for a GNAC team in cross country championships history.

Dominic Notz and Edwin Kangogo joined Cheseto as All-Americans. Notz repeated as an All-American, finishing in eighth place in 29:54.4. Kangogo finished 30th in 30:24.5. Michael Mendenhall placed 68th in 30:59.7 while Victor Samoei rounded out the scoring five in 74th place in 31:04.2.

Simon Fraser finished in 12th place with a score of 172 points. Oliver Jorgensen led the Clan with a 48th place finish with a time of 30:41.2. Marc-Antoine Rouleau placed 56th in 30:48.3.

Western Oregon’s David Ribich, the only individual qualifier from the GNAC, finished 67th in his first NCAA Championships in a time of 30:58.6.

Colorado Mines won the team title with a score of 100 points while Adams State placed second with 127 points. Adams State won the 2014 team title while Colorado Mines placed fourth.

The performance of the top-three finishers sets up the potential for a rivalry on the national stage over the next two seasons. Chelanga, Kiprop and Cheseto are all underclassmen, with Cheseto being the only sophomore of the three.