California Baptist University
CBU Invitational (8K)
French Connection
10/3/2015 12:38:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Cross Country, Cross Country & Track
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Domination was in full effect Saturday morning as California Baptist University won its second home meet with style.
Competing against fellow PacWest schools Dixie State, Concordia (Irvine) and Hawaii Pacific, the Lancers stole the spotlight from the beginning of the race and kept striding through the finish to finish with 15 points, almost 60 points less than the runner up Red Storm.
As the race came into the first loop, five Lancers were leading the pack with several others shortly behind them. As the third and final loop approached, ten of the 12 front runners were CBU athletes working and running together in unison.
Racing to the finish line, Valentin Robert and Abdel El-Hajjami left all other competitors in the dust, running in tangent to take first and second, respectively. Robert clocked in with a time of 25 minutes, 10.35 seconds, while El-Hajjami followed immediately after his fellow Frenchman with a time of 25:10.42.
"The plan was to keep a steady pace from beginning to end," El-Hajjami said. "We ran a 3:10 on the first 1,000 meters so we started with a good pace and kept going."
"We have some important races coming up and I am curious to see how far we can go as a team," added Robert.
Of the top 14 runners to finish, 11 of them were from CBU. Bismarck Kipkilach (25:25.31), Jayden Emerson (25:26.62), Ken Kipkorir (25:29.66), Tyre Hines (25:30.15), Jeremiah Gotts (25:32.25) and William Ernst (25:35.83) all finished in the top nine and had outstanding races.
"We wanted the opponents to dictate the race and respond to what other competitors do," said head coach Ben Gall. "We did that well. Once we responded, we took over for the most part. It was great to see the men run together like that and we hope they can do that when there is more competition."
The Lancers head to Northern California next for the San Francisco State Invitational and will look to continue to build on their form as the PacWest Championship approaches on Oct. 24.
Players Mentioned
