Stellar performance by Broncbusters at National Championships
Tallahassee, FL-The Broncbusters competed in both the NJCAA Cross Country and Half-Marathon National Championships.
Women
-Valentine Lagat led the Busters with a 28th place finish in a time of 19:31.7.
-Shareen Cheruiyot placed 64th with a time of 20:53.8.
-Sara Chapa closed out her freshman year with breaking the 21 minute barrier for the first time in her career, clocking in a time of 20:57.5. Her performance was good enough for 67th place.
-Taylor Thorp had a stellar performance, placing 118th with a time of 22:43.3.
-Andrea Serrano made a big push at the end to place 125th, clocking in a time of 23:01.7.
-Jania Don Juan was close behind with a 128th place finish, running a time of 23:05.1
-Rebecca Potts rounded out the team scoring with a 168th place finish with a time of 26:06.3.
Women's Team placed 11th out of 25 teams. Team Score of 359 points. Their team placing was the highest team finish since Creal's arrival in 2020.
Men
-Kelvin Cheruiyot placed 11th with a time of 25:09.6, earning himself NJCAA All-American Honors.
-Jose "Froy" Ruiz finished in 121st place with a time of 29:48.9
-Daniel Aguilar had a stellar performance, clocking in a 30:14.0 for 131st place.
-Daegan VanPelt made very smart moves throughout the race to earn himself 152nd place with a time of 31:10.2.
-Rosalio Ruiz was not far behind, clocking in a 31:23.7, placing 156th overall.
-Zaccerie Penka placed 160th with a time of 31:30.7.
-Matt Veloz placed 165th with a time of 31:47.8.
Men's Team placed 20th out of 29 teams. Team Score of 523 points.
Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/results/xc/21226/NJCAA_DI_Cross_Country_Championships
Half Marathon:
Women took to the 13.1 mile rolling hills course first, battling with stacked 83 runner field.
-Valentine Lagat battled with the front pack for a large majority of the race but just wasn't able to respond to some late race moves. Lagat finished 8th with a time of 1:30:23.
-Sara Chapa ran a very impressive debut, finishing 11th with a time of 1:32:29. Her performance was the 2nd best time in school history.
-Shareen Cheruiyot placed 28th with a time of 1:39:48.
-Jania Don Juan had a stellar performance, clocking in a 1:43:47; running a personal best by nearly 6 minutes. Her time puts her 4th on the all time list for the event.
-Taylor Thorp rounded off the team scoring with a 61st place finish in a time of 1:53.28. Her performance puts her 5th on the all time list.
Women's Team placed 4th out of 15 teams with a score of 47 points. This is the best finish in school history as well as the best showing of any girls team in Coach Creal's career.
"This group had a phenomenal day! Our goal going into this race was to finish out on of the greatest seasons in school history and they bought into it. They ran with heart and grit and really went after it. Proud of what this group had accomplished this year and definitely will be a season to remember."
Men battled it out with a very competitive 131 runner field.
-Kelvin Cheruiyot battled with the front pack for a large majority of the race but just wasn't able to respond to some late race moves. Cheruiyot finished 10th overall with a time of 1:21:30.
-Jose "Froy" Ruiz ended his Broncbuster career with a personal best, running a time of 1:21:30, placing 79th overall. His improvement moved him to 5th on the all time list for the event.
-Daniel Aguilar had a phenomenal performance for his first half marathon, clocking in a time of 1:22:37 for 87th place. His performance puts him 6th on the all time list for the event.
-Zaccerie Penka wasn't far behind his fellow teammates, clocking in a time of 1:23:37 for 96th place.
-Rosalio Ruiz rounded out the team scoring with a 115th place finish, running a time of 1:29:30. His performance puts him 8th on the all time list.
Men's team placed 11th out of 17 teams with a score of 139 points.
Results: https://www.gulfwinds.org/njcaa-half-marathon-results-2022/