Racing into History, Linga Claims Reivers' First Cross Country National Championship
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO
A season-long run of domination for Freshman Faith Linga ended Saturday in New Mexico the same place she's finished many races this season, in first place! Linga claimed the top spot at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing with the second-fastest 5K time in meet history, winning with a time of 16:49, 13 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor, to become the first individual champion in Reivers Cross Country.
Overall, the Women's team finished with a score of 403, finishing just out of the team Top 10. Fellow freshman Emmy Jepkemei brought home All- American honors finishing 23rd with a time of 19:22.
On the Men's side freshmen Kassim Kibet and Shawn Kiptoo led the Reivers to a team score of 281 to finish 8th overall. Kibet finished 3rd overall with a time of 24:05 while Kiptoo was right behind finishing with a time of 24:23. The finish comes as the top 1-2 finish for the men's program in team history. Sophomore Gavin Klein was just outside of reaching All- American status with a 47th place finish (26:19). This is the first time since 2016 the men's team has had a scoring team at nationals and only the 3rd top 10 finish in program history.
The Reivers now put their sites on the indoor season, with the first indoor meet held in Crete, NE at Doane University on January 11th, 2020.
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