Chebet, a senior, notched his third straight Top 10 finish, placing 10th in the Men's 8,000-meter Gold race with a time of 24:04.72. On the season he has finished first, second and now 10th. Head coach Erik Jenkins was pleased with Chebet's performance on a course that plays host to Pre-Nationals and the NCAA Championships.
"For Joseph (Chebet) to finish Top 10 in a race like that bodes very well for him down the run," said Jenkins.
Sophomore David Mokone was the next Hilltopper to cross the finish line, placing 43rd with a time of 24:37.55. WKU finished 25th out of 31 teams in a competition that featured 12 schools representing the six BCS conferences, and two nationally ranked teams in No.6 Texas and No.8 Iona. Iona won the event with 47 team points.
"Our top guys are running well," said Jenkins. "From the standpoint of the other guys they got to get healthy and run better. We've got depth we just have to race well."
Freshman Lindsey Hinken led the way for the Lady Toppers in the Women's Blue 5,000-meter race, placing 14th with a time of 18:19.46. In three collegiate events, Hinken has placed Top 25 in two of them. She also placed 22nd at the Belmont Opener on Aug. 31.
Senior Vasity Chemweno was next across the line for WKU, finishing 37th at 18:41.46. As a team the Lady Toppers finished 7th out of 43 teams.
"It's good to see the young ones running well. I was very proud of them as a team," said Jenkins.
"The ladies ran hard and so did the men. For them to run a national championship course and to run like they did, I was encouraged."
Men's 8K Gold
10. Joseph Chebet 24:04.72
43. David Mokone 24:37.55
246. Aaron Stevens 28:06.06
248. Lucas Somers 28:12.47
250. Landon Taylor 28:28.05
253. Jeff Walker 29:13.16
Women's 5K Blue
14. Lindsey Hinken 18:19.46
37. Vasity Chemweno 18:41.46
66. Kim Dominguez 19:00.42
75. Louise Hill-Stirling 19:06.21
90. Katie Lever 19:10.08
103. Taylor Carlin
107. Brianne Porter
178. Madison Hale
249. Sydney Settle
