Aggies take 19th at Chile Pepper

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas (October 17) – The Cameron Aggie cross country team traveled to Fayetteville, Arkansas today to participate in the University of Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. At the tough race the Aggies finished 19th out of 29 teams, but CU was running in the University Division against some of the nation’s top Division I teams. Today’s race was 10 kilometers in length.

“We ran well today and to finish at 19th place in a race of this caliber is not bad,” Head Coach Matt Aguero said. “For the most part, everybody ran well today which was good to see since we have conference coming up next week.”

The Chile Pepper Festival is known for being one of the toughest 10K races in the country. The majority of the teams participating are top ranked NCAA Division I teams.

Sophomore Colby Lowe of Oklahoma State University won today’s individual title with a top time of 29:30.90. The OSU Cowboys went on to win today’s team title as well.

By finishing 19th, CU finished ahead of elite teams such as Texas Christian University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Wyoming. The Aggies were the only members of the Lone Star Conference in today’s meet.

This was Cameron’s first 10K race for the season and sophomore Julius Korir once again finished as CU’s top runner. Korir finished the race in 34th place with a time of 31:13.47.

“Julius had solid race and stepped up big for us today,” Coach Aguero said. “He has had a solid season so far and he keeps running well. It is a little different to run in 10K races, but today’s performance should help us prepare for the LSC race.”

Cameron’s other top 100 finisher today was senior Josh Stewart who finished at 81st place. His final time was written to 32:20.52.

Junior Mohamed Khelalfa also ran well and finished the race with a time of 33:50.36, good enough for 145th place.

“This was definitely one of the toughest races we have competed in this season; 90 percent of the teams are high-class Division I teams, so I was pleased to see how well we ran,” Coach Aguero said.

CU senior Casey Kreger finished in 164th place with a time of 34:20.89 while junior Juan Ruiz finished in 173rd place with a time of 34:52.11.

Rounding out CU’s times was freshman Bhupendra Acharya who finished in 194th with a time of 44:28.72.

The Aggies will continue their season next week on October 24 when they travel to Canyon, Texas, to participate in the Lone Star Conference Championship meet.