No. 12 Florida Women, No. 1 Iowa State Men Run To Team Titles In Preview Of NCAA Championship Course

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Kylie Graham 

RESULTS

In the first major meet of the season at the University of Missouri's Gans Creek Cross Country Course, a wide swath of the NCAA's top programs got a chance to race on the NCAA D1 Championships course on Friday morning. 

Individually, a pair of Washington State runners picked up victories and established themselves potential challengers for national titles. 

Rosemary Longisa, who started running for WSU during in the indoor track season, ran a time of 19:07.0 on the 6-kilometer layout at Grans Creek. She moved up from fifth at 4 kilometers and won by less than a second. 

Mary Ogwoka from Tennessee was second in 19:07.7 and Mercyline Kirwa of Iowa State was third in 19:13.7. 

The top three were all freshmen. 

The top 24 women in the field ran faster than the 2021 course record (19:55.1). 

No. 12 Florida packed four into the top 10 with seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th and won the team title with 102 points, defeating highly ranked teams from Northern Arizona, Colorado, Virginia, Utah, Oregon and Iowa State. 

Judy Kepkoech, a transfer from Arizona State, led the Gators with seventh place. Teammates Tia Wilson, Hilda Olemomoi and Judy's freshman sister, Desma Kepkoech, finished within a 12-second window. 

Northern Arizona's Agnes McTighe and Hayley Burns led the Lumberjacks by placing 12th and 13th. 

In the men's 8-kilometer gold race, Iowa State put three in the top seven and four in the top 15 for a low score of 47 points. 

The Cyclones dominated the team race. Virginia, led by Gary Martin's ninth-place finish, was second with 107 points. Colorado, Alabama and BYU rounded out the top five. 

Washington State's Solomon Kipchoge kicked over the final 800 meters to get clear of Iowa State's Joash Ruto and won the race by 7.3 seconds in 22:24.7.

Behind Ruto, teammates Sanele Masondo (sixth), Robin Kwemoi Bera (seventh) and Rodgers Kiplimo (13th) weren't far behind. Fifth scorer Meshack Kimutai was 19th. 

All five scoring Cyclones were separated by 30 seconds.