Samuel Chelanga and Sheila Reid emerge at the top at NCAA Cross Country Championships
Samuel Chelanga, the Liberty University senior from Kenya along with Sheila Reid from Canada impressively overcame the gushing winds to bag the men’s and women’s individual titles at the NCAA Cross country Championships held on Monday at the Lavern Gibson
Championships Course.
Both Chelanga and Reid could only bag the victories at the final homestretch while fighting against the headwinds blowing with the force of 20 miles per hour.
Winning the race for the second time in a row, Chelanga had to make quick strides to outdo the close rival from Arizona junior, Stephen Sambu of Arizona to claim the title for 10,000m race for crossing the finishing line in twenty nine minutes and 22.2 seconds.
On women’s side, Reid pulled away from Emily Infeld, the runner from Georgetown and Oregon’s Jordan Hasay and claimed the title in 6000m race. She managed to end the race in twenty minutes and 6.9 seconds. With the time clocked twenty minutes and 9.2 seconds,
Infeld stood for second position while with a difference of further four seconds Hasay managed to stand third at the podium.
Despite of ending up with a win, the time clocked by Chelanga this year was 40 seconds higher than the last year of 28 minutes and 41.3 seconds. In 2009’s race the athlete had led the race right from the beginning and had succeeded in maintaining a difference
of 25 seconds from the followers. Contrary to that, amid the potential hindrance of strong winds, the guy was happy to share the lead with Sambu and Luke Puskedra from Oregon as he passed the halfway way mark in fourteen minutes and thirty seven seconds. As
expected at the midway point, the race turned to be a real battle between Sambu and the winner when it was a distance of two kilometres to go.
Chelanga could manage to win the race amid utilizing the tactics his huge experience has brought him. He patiently waited and reserved his energy until making the final turn onto the quarter mile homestretch directly into the wind before comfortably surging
away. While approaching the finishing line Chelanga raised his both arms and then lifted the right fist to mark the celebration.
While talking to the media about his second win in a row, the impressive Kenyan runner said, “Last year I just ran away with it, I needed something different for this year. The wind and everything made me decide that I can’t run by myself.”
In women’s race, more than 50 runners hit the course at the gun with a five seconds lead through the distance of 3000 meters. Initiating with the fight to win, the trio of Reid, Infled and Hasay separated themselves from rest of the runners when it was the
final 100 meters to go. The girls ran side-by-side down the homestretch. Initially Hasay took a small lead but she was soon passed by Infeld and Reid. Reid took charge of the race when only 200 meters had to be covered before finishing the race.
While commenting upon her success, the title holder Reid said: “My last kilometre has been really strong throughout the year, so I knew if it came down to it, I would have enough in the end. I am really confident in my kick. I knew coming down the home straight
how good I felt that I would have something left in me.”
An important result came out of the race was that amid winning a consecutive individual national title, Chelanga became the 10th male runner to get the privilege. It was the first ever since Simon Bairu from Wisconsin, Canada did the job in 2004
and 2005. Moreover, Chelanga’s win also constituted the third title in four years by a Liberty runner.
In a holistic context the emergence of three different records by Chelenga would definitely inspire the fast increasing fans of Cross Country races, they would also definitely add up to the credibility of the Kenyan runner.
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