Broncbusters produce three All-Americans at Cross Country National Championships
By Mike Pilosof
Richmond, VA-The Broncbuster cross country teams made some more history on Saturday.
Dennis Mutai finished fifth and was one of two Garden City runners who were named All-Americans at the 2021 NJCAA National Championships on Saturday. The team took 13th while the women were paced by All-American Valentine Lagat.
Men
Mutai has been break taking at times this season, and for much of Saturday's race, the freshman burner was up to his old tricks. He was locked with 20 runners for the individual crown up until the last quarter mile. He finished fifth with a time of 24:17.1. His teammate, Kelvin Cheruiyot took 11th (24:40.3) and was named an NJCAA All-American.
Meantime, Angel Ayala placed 62nd with a time of 26:52.8, his third fastest career mark. In fact, it was about 40 seconds better than his time last year at nationals. Holcomb native Zaccerie Penka also hit a career-best time of 28:36.7-finishing 131st, Jose "Froy" Ruiz clocked a 29:15.2, and Syracuse native Daniel Aguilar finished 165th with his third-best time ever at 30:22.7.
Women
Lagat, who's paced Garden City all season long, did not disappoint, taking 15th overall with a time of 19:02.9 and was named an All-American.
Her teammate, Shareen Cheruiyot, shook off a rough start to finish 47th (20:09.6), Stanton County High School product, Jania Don Juan, ran her third best time at 22:04.6, Cielo Garcia was 11tth (22:09.6), and Holcomb native Andrea Serrano clocked one of her best times of the season-24:15.5, placing 140th.
Elsewhere, Rebeca Potts finished 146th (25:04.2) for the Broncbusters, which took 14th as a squad.
Next up: Half Marathon National Championships on Tuesday