LAWTON, Okla. -- West Texas A&M made it nine consecutive men's cross country titles, while DBU won its second straight women’s cross country championship at the 2021 Lone Star Conference Cross Country Championships held Saturday at the Big Green Soccer Complex in Lawton, Oklahoma.
RESULTS: WOMEN | MEN
DBU claimed its second title thanks to the depth of its team as they placed six runners inside the top 15 and on the all-conference list. Madison Brown led the Patriots with a fourth-place finish in 22:13.45. Rylee Cristan finished in sixth, followed by LSC Freshman of the Year KayCee Keller in seventh and Jenna Thorman in eighth. Marissa Insinna in 10th and Abril Escamilla in 11th rounded out the all-conference performances for DBU. The Patriots finished with 35 points, narrowly edging out West Texas A&M, who finished three points behind.
WT ended with 38 points as the runner-up, led by individual champion Florance Uwajeneza who breezed through the 6,000-meter race in 21:33.75 to win her second-straight title. Uwajeneza became the first runner to earn back-to-back women's championships since 2007. The standout junior was followed by teammate and LSC Newcomer of the Year Eleonora Curtabbi, who finished in second place. Grace Dwyer finished in fifth, and Betty Bajika earned 12th for the Lady Buffs.
Texas A&M International marked their highest finish at the LSC Championships, picking up third-place honors as a team with 96 points. Beverlyne Kipchumba paced the Dustdevils, finishing in 14th with a time of 23:19.83 to receive all-conference recognition. Karla Resendez (17th), Victorine Kiprop (20th), Rose Iminza (23rd) and Faith Kiprotich (24th) also scored for the Dustdevils.
Eastern New Mexico ended the race with 106 points, followed by Lubbock Christian with 155 points to close out the top five.
In the men's race, WT ran straight through the competition finishing with 42 points to claim its ninth-straight title by an LSC record 101 points. The Buffs were led by individual champion Innocent Murwanashyaka who finished the 8,000-meter race in 25:16.51 to win by 22 seconds. Murwanashyaka is the second individual champion from WT in the last three seasons and led a group of five Buffs in all-conference honors. Ezekiel Kipchirchir, 2019 LSC individual champion, finished in fourth, followed by Briggs Wittlake in eighth, Jay Hall in 14th and Gustavo Posada in 15th to round out the scorers for WT.
St. Edward's came closest to the Buffs, finishing in second with 143 points. The Hilltoppers earned their highest team finish since joining the LSC led by Dylan Sequeira's 12th-place mark in 26:19.18. Nigusom Knight followed in 21st and was joined in the scoring by Omar Guzman (34th), Nicholas Gonzalez (35th) and Eric Rodriguez (41st).
DBU landed just behind SEU in the final standings with a team score of 145 to place third. Jeb Williamson's all-conference performance led the Patriots with a ninth-place finish in 26:10.24. Adam Whitehead also finished inside the top 20 in 17th place, followed by Angel Luera (30th), Trenton Kelly (32nd) and Jay Grainger (57th).
UT Tyler scored 150 points in fourth and TAMIU registered 160 points to round out the top five.
Eastern New Mexico's Kelvin Kipkemboi received Newcomer of the Year honors after finishing in 10th place with a time of 26:10.88. UT Permian Basin's Hector Sanchez took home Freshman of the Year recognition with a seventh-place finish in 25:57.82.
The top 15 finishers for both the men and women earned LSC All-Conference honors.