DEKALB, Ill. — Wichita State junior Aliphine Tuliamuk
automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships Saturday, winning the 2011
NCAA Midwest Regional women's 6,000-meter race.
Tuliamuk finished the race in 20:40.68 - more than 12
seconds ahead of the second place finisher - on the Northern Illinois
University North 40 Course.
The Shocker women finished 12th out of 28 teams with
315 points. Patrober Murindat finished 34th (22:07.44), Scarla Nero
82nd (22:51.90), Samantha Shukla 93rd (22:57.94), Danielle
Walker 107th (23:19.37), Sharon Zeller 120th (23:19.37)
and Laura Burke 147th (23:53.32) out of 189 competitors.
"On the women's side, Aliphine was awesome," Shocker head
coach Kirk Hunter said. "She followed the race plan, and it paid off. Patrober,
Danielle, Sam and Sharon all ran very well. As a team, we did good, but we just
didn't have the front-end firepower to go with Aliphine. We look forward to
Aliphine's national race."
This marks the second-straight year a Shocker women's cross
country student-athlete qualified for the NCAA Championships and fifth time in
eight years. Tonya Nero went on to finish 16th at the NCAA
Championships last season.
The Shocker men finished 18th out of 25 teams overall
in the men's 10K Saturday with 470 points. Marcos Bailon led the Shocker men
with a 60th-place finish in 32:50.85 out of 171 runners. Jackson
Toroitich finished 65th (33:03.00), Spencer Sterling 107th
(34:07.88), Jake Wike 115th (34:14.22), Abel Assefa 134th
(34:42.95) and Scott Ufford 148th (35:20.13).
"Our men are disappointed in our team finish today," Hunter
said. "We lack depth and when Tomas (Cotter) did not finish, our team chances
were shot. Marcos, Jackson and Abel had great races, but overall we didn't
respond the way we had hoped. Still, our guys improved dramatically this year
and they deserve credit for their efforts."
The Shocker men and women entered the meet each ranked 11th
in the Midwest in the latest NCAA Division I regional rankings released by the
U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Oct. 31.
Minnesota's Hassan Mead won the men's individual title in
31:16.87 and Oklahoma State won the men's team title with 42 points, followed
by second-place Oklahoma with 45 points.
Iowa State won the women's team title with 64 points.
Oklahoma State finished second with 119 points.
The top two teams and top four individual finishers not on a
qualifying team Saturday automatically qualified for the national championships,
which will be held Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind. Additional at-large teams and
individuals will be chosen following Saturday's nine regional competitions held
throughout the country at the Division I level.
A total of 33 Midwest Division I programs from 10
conferences and the states of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota were slated to participate
Saturday in DeKalb.
The NCAA Championships will take place Nov. 21 in Terre
Haute, Ind. at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
- Wichita State -
