Men open season with win at UCO Land Run; Women 2nd

A pack of Oklahoma Christian runners race near the front at the University of Central Oklahoma Land Run.

EDMOND, Okla. (Sept. 10, 2011) – Oklahoma Christian’s men’s cross country team opened their season Saturday morning with a decisive win in the University of Central Oklahoma Land Run at Mitch Park.

OC’s women’s team posted a solid second-place finish, with two newcomers posting top-10 finishes.

Six OC runners finished among the top eight in the men’s race, which drew 49 runners. Freshman Roberto Diaz, running unattached from the team, finished third, covering the 6,400-meter course in 21:06.67. Another unattached runner, Jeremy Faulker – who’s not connected with OC – won with a time of 20:33.80.

The next five OC runners – senior transfer Nathan Mesta, Brayden Barrientez, David McWilliams, Austin Simkins and Geoffrey Njonjo – finished fourth through eighth, respectively. Less than two seconds separated the group of OC runners.

The Eagles, who were ranked No. 3 in the NAIA preseason coaches’ poll, posted a team score of 20, well ahead of second-place (and No. 16-ranked) Oklahoma Baptist, which had a team score of 55.

OC head coach Mark Thompson chose to rest his returning three-time cross country All-America runner, Silas Kisorio – whose track season lasted into July – and asked his other runners to stay together for the entire race.

“They executed very well and I think it was a good confidence builder for all of them,” Thompson said. “That will not be our strategy for most meets, but it is great to be able to use this first meet to try something different.”

Joseph Zarazua, another OC runner competing unattached to the team, was 11th in 21:27.61. Rounding out OC’s official top seven were freshman Brennym Kaelin, who was 18th in 21:57.35, and Evan Fike, was was 21st in 22:02.21

Thompson said he hopes to have Kisorio ready to run either next Saturday, in the Southern Stampede at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Mo., or in two weeks at a local meet hosted by Oklahoma City University.

In the women’s race, freshman Jacqueline Hallam – who just arrived in the U.S. from her homeland of Australia earlier this month – led the Lady Eagles with a third-place finish, completing the 5,000 meters in 19:46.20. Senior Melyssa Cardenas, returning after missing last season with an injury, was fourth in 19:50.56.

Another freshman, Noemi Hernandez, was ninth in 19:59.10. A pair of seniors, Erin Sesemann (15th in 20:08.77) and Cady Block (18th in 20:25.77), rounded out the Lady Eagles’ scorers. Freshman Tavia Hoheisel also ran for OC, finishing 33rd in 21:29.08.The race drew 58 runners.

Host UCO won the women’s team competition with a score of 20, followed by OC (49) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (92).

“Jacq and Noemi ran great in the first races as Lady Eagles,” Thompson said. “Jacq is still battling a little jet lag and I asked her to run conservatively for the first half of the race. She did just that and then showed us that she is already in great shape. Everything has changed for her in the last few weeks. It was the dead of winter for her a week ago, so in addition to the time change is a big weather change. She is already proving to be a solid addition to our team.”

Thompson said Hernandez successfully handled the transition to college competition from Oklahoma high school cross country races – in which female competitors run two miles, as compared to the 3.1 miles at the UCO meet.

“I expect that she’ll make rapid improvements this season,” Thompson said.

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