South Plains repeats as NJCAA Half-Marathon champions

For the second consecutive year South Plains captured the NJCAA Men's Half Marathon championship on Saturday in Levelland, Texas.

The Texans finished with a collective time of 3 hours, 23 minutes, 12.14 seconds, en route to recording 14 total points. Leading the way for South Plains was the top overall finisher Hassan Abdi as the sophomore posted a time of 1:04:55.67. Also scoring for the national champions were sophomore Kevlin Keter and freshman Nicholas Rotch.

Joining Hassan amongst the top three finishers was sophomore Sylvester Barus of Iowa Western and Iowa Central freshman Andrew Ronoh. Barus edged out Ronoh for a second place finish by the thin margin of 12.62 seconds and overall time of 1:05:03.75.

In the overall team standings Gillette recorded a second place finish with 19 points as Allen County amassed 31 points for a third place finish.

With the victory, the Texans hoisted their seventh title in the half marathon event. South Plain's previous titles came in 1993, 1995, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2014.