One of only two NJCAA Championships being contested in the fall of 2020 took place Saturday, November 14th on Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The morning brought cold winds and gloomy skies but the competition on the rolling course suffered none.
The women?s 5,000 meter race began at 9:30am. Three Trinidad State Trojans got straight to lead pack. Sharon Jesang, Sheilah Cheruiyot and Ashley Lagat would all battle amongst the top 20 in the country for the entirety of the race. Sheilah Cheruiyot, who placed 12th at last years NJCAA Championships, moved up throughout the race, eventually sprinting to a 6th place finish. Only seconds later Sharon Jesang crossed the finish line in 9th. Another Trojan, Ashley Lagat dashed across the line in 19th place. All three of these ladies garnered All-American honors.
After starting in 65th place Ashlee Ferrari moved up to 57th by the time she crossed the finish line. Jayceen Booth rounded out the Trojans scoring five athletes by finishing in 102nd place. Coach Lauren Masterson praised the Trojans efforts saying, ?Our ladies did an absolutely fantastic job from top to bottom. We expected our front three to set the tone for the team and score us as little points as possible, and they did just that. However, Ashlee and Jayceen, who both come from sprint backgrounds have shown that they?re simply great athletes who can come through when their team needs them.?
The Trojans finished 8th overall, their second highest placing to date at a National Cross Country Championship. ?I?m very proud of our ladies for getting 8th place. This year has been a challenge for everyone. They took this opportunity and made the best of it.?
Not to be outdone, the Trojan men took to the course for the 8,000 meter race, which began at 10:15 to the sound of the starters cannon. Micah Stanton and Thomas Termote asserted themselves early, tucking into a pack of 20 men as the winds whipped across the Iowa fields. At 2 miles Stanton pushed forward, breaking into the top 10 and battling for more. Termote continued to press on in 15th place. Stanton would pick off a couple runners before dashing across the finish line in 7th place. Termote followed behind in 10th place, after passing 5 runners in the last mile of the race. Both earned their first All-American honors.
Only a little farther behind, Andy Setser continued his breakout season by starting conservatively in 67th place a half mile into the race. However, as the race wore on Setser moved past bunches of runners and eventually finished in 30th place. The Trojans scoring five was wrapped up by clutch performances from Ethan Coyhis and Alejandro Salazar, who both ran massive personal bests on a tough course. The pair started in 102nd and 103rd place respectively at the first mile split. But by the finish Coyhis had moved up to 69th and Salazar to 77th. With such strong performances the Trojans finished in 6th place as a team.
Coach Masterson sited the team?s persistence as a big reason for such a performance. ?The men did a great just continually moving forward and refusing to give an inch. Every one of our guys finished much higher than they started. Andy passed at least 30 guys over the course of the race, and Alejandro and Ethan went step for step with each other past just as many. We planned to capitalize on other teams? fatigue in those late stages of the race, and the men executed perfectly.? Of her newly minted All-Americans the coach stated, ?Micah and Thomas were fierce out there. They went toe-to-toe with some great runners and simply willed themselves past many of them. I am incredibly proud of them, and all our guys. This was a big team effort.?
A live replay of the men?s and women?s Division I NJCAA Cross Country Championships can be found at www.njcaa.org/network