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Ole Miss’ Martin Kirui Makes NCAA Cross Country Championships Field
INDIANAPOLIS – Ole Miss
senior Martin Kirui has been chosen to participate in the upcoming NCAA
Cross Country Championships as an at-large individual qualifier,
following a strong performance at the NCAA South Regional on Saturday.
Kirui
placed 11th overall at the regional in Tuscaloosa, Ala., running the
10K course in 31:29.8. By finishing among the top 25 runners at the
event, the Kenya native earned All-South Region honors for the second
straight year.
Rebel women Logan Waites and Katie
Breathitt also achieved All-Region status by finishing 12th and 15th,
respectively, in Tuscaloosa. However, neither runner was granted a spot
at the national meet due to the fact that more individuals who finished
ahead of them at the regional were not on qualifying teams. Waites and
Breathitt are the first two female All-Region honorees in Ole Miss
history.
“We are very proud that Martin will be
going to the NCAA Championships, but we’re sad for Logan and Katie who
have been outstanding for us the whole season,” said Ole Miss head
coach Joe Walker.
Kirui will make his first
appearance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and the sixth
appearance by any runner in school history. His brother, Barnabas
Kirui, made three of those six appearances in 2006, 2009 and 2010.
Barnabas finished fourth in the nation in 2009.
Waites
finishes her career as the most decorated cross country female in
school history. She became the first Rebel female to earn All-SEC
honors this year and finished the highest by any female in school
history at both the SEC Championships and NCAA South Regional. She was
twice recognized as the SEC Female Athlete of the Week this season.
Breathitt,
a junior, also turned in one of the best seasons in school history. Her
15th-place result at both the SEC Championships and NCAA South Regional
are the second-best results by a Rebel female in school history.
Thirty-one
teams were selected to participate in both the men’s and women’s
national championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically
qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams.
Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large.
Thirty-eight
individuals were selected to participate in each championship through
an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual
qualifiers finished in the top 25 in their region.
Indiana
State will host the Championships, Monday, Nov. 21, at the LaVern
Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports
Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The men’s race will begin at approximately
11:08 a.m. CT. A live webcast of the championships will be broadcast
from 11 a.m. to noon CT, Nov. 21, on NCAA.com. In addition,
highlights from the championships will be included as part of the CBS
NCAA Fall Seasonal Show scheduled to air on Saturday, Dec. 18 from noon
to 1:00 p.m. CT on CBS HD.
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