The Oklahoma City University cross-country teams competed in Vancouver, Washington for the NAIA national championship on Nov. 22.
The men’s cross-country team is a top-ranking team nationally, and this past Friday, November 22, they took home their fifth cross-country national title.
“The men’s team won the national championship with a total of 110 points, and the women’s team came in 16th place overall,” Kipruto Cherutich, non-profit leadership graduate, said.
Cherutich said the team was very prepared going into the championship.
“We wanted to prove to the nation we are the best team in the NAIA,” Cherutich said.
Cherutich said from his time joining the team in August until now, they have been in intense training.
“We train at 6:15 a.m. from Monday to Sunday, except Saturday when we run on our own,” said Cherutich.
Cherutich said the team trains under their coach, Matt Aguero, and his assistant coaches, who have sacrificed a lot of time for their success.
“Being my first experience to participate in the national championship, I can tell you that it was a bit challenging to me, simply because I started the race at position 97,” Cherutich said.
Cherutich said his coach kept pushing him to put more effort in for the team to win, and he began to work harder.
“At one point, I was under pressure because I had minor pains on both of my legs, and I had to continue to run in order to score for our team,” Cherutich said.
The weather at the race was pretty fair, but most of the course was very narrow.
Regarding the future, Cherutich said the cross-country season is over, but the next indoor season is about to start up.
“I wish all of my training partners good health and strength for us to work hard and bring home another victory in the upcoming season,” Cherutich said.
Another team member, Oscar Kipkoros, criminology/non-profit leadership graduate, said the team did really well.
“We are the champions, actually, the national champions,” said Kipkoros.
Kipkoros said he thought the team did very well.
“Our team had continuous, persistent preparation and it got us to where we are today,” said Kipkoros.
This specific season is now over, and cross-country won’t start up again until next year.
“I think it is important to not complain, follow instructions, and have confidence in everything you do to be successful,” said Kipkoros.
It was my pleasure representing OCU for three good years, I will always be proud of you. thank you to my coach and the entire team for the support