SPC men, El Paso women claim Region 5 Cross Country titles

The South Plains College men and El Paso Community College women ran their way to team titles at the NJCAA Region V Cross Country Championships held Oct. 31 in Roswell, NM.

On the men's side, South Plains had six runners place in the Top 10 en route to the team title. SPC finished with 19 points, while El Paso was second with 34, Ranger was third with 63, Western Texas was fourth with 97 and Odessa was fifth with 104.

Hassan Abdi of SPC was the individual champion with a time of 24:28, while teammates Kevin Keter was second (24:45) and Nicholas Rotich was third (25:07). El Paso's Eli Kosgei and Juan Vazquez rounded out the Top 5 with fourth and fifth place finishes.

The women's meet was much closer with El Paso edging New Mexico Junior College for the title. El Paso finished with 42 points, NMJC was second with 51, South Plains was third with 78, New Mexico Military Institute was fourth with 90, Ranger was fifth with 91 and Odessa was sixth with 113.

Kayla Pallares of El Paso finished first with a time of 18:15. NMJC had three runners claim the next spots. Rose Jebet was second (18:32), Naomi Tanui was third (19:04) and Silvia Sosa was fourth (19:09). Sasha-Gay Whyte of SPC came in fifth (19:17).

Next stop for these teams and runners will be the NJCAA National Championships in Ames, Iowa on Nov. 14.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE REGIONAL MEET (xls file)