Men's Cross Country 9/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Cross Country Opens Season With Fourth Place Finish

LAWTON, Okla. — Cameron’s Cross Country team opened the season with a fourth place finish at the MSU Stampede Thursday night. The 6K race was run at the Memorial Athletic Complex in Wichita Falls, Texas. The Aggies opened the season ranked third in the South Central Region.

While head coach Matt Aguero was shooting for a top three finish, there is no disappointment in fourth place; especially in a meet in which two of your top competitors are not running.

"We could’ve done better but without our two top guys, Juluis Korir and Eli Hernandez, we did pretty good,” Aguero said.

Cameron finished with 78 points and a total time of 1:39:53.00 (avg. 19:45.00), two points high than third place Angelo State, which finished with a total time of 1:39:53.00 (avg. 19:58.60).

East Central, ranked no. 17 in the nation, won the race handedly with a team time of 1:33:40.00 (avg. 18:44.00) and only 22 points, followed by Texas A&M Commerce with a time of 1:38:04.00 (avg. 19:36.80) and 61 points.

The real story of the race was freshman runner Hillary Kirwa who finished in 17:54.00, 16 seconds ahead of Ezekiel Kissorio of East Central. Aguero said Kirwa’s sub-18 6K was not only a course record for the event but also a school record, breaking Korir’s previous record of 19:15.

“He set the school record by over a minute,” Aguero said. “That’s pretty big. He is one of the contenders for an individual conference championship.”

Aguero said he was pleased with how his whole team ran, and pointed out Marcus Trevino specifically, who finished 33rd. Other Cameron runners included Moses Kipkosgei (10th), Brian Mulwo (24th), Alfonso Lozoya (29th), Michael Daniels (39th), Nathan Durst (40th), Antonio Moreno (41st) and Krzysztof Szczepinski (46th).

Cameron’s next cross country meet will be a home meet. The Aggie Showdown will take place Sept. 10 at 9:35 a.m. at the Big Green Soccer Complex, located off Interstate 44 and east Lee. And Aguero said that after tonight, he is looking forward to the race.

“Tonight was really good,” he said. “I think this (race) helped our guys. It really benefited us.”

For more information on the cross country team, visit www.cameronaggies.com.

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