Rotich picks up third win of the season at Blue & Gold Invite.

SAN ANGELO – Texas A&M University-Commerce’s Nicodemus Rotich won his third straight race to begin his collegiate cross country career. The Lion men and women each competed at the Angelo State Blue & Gold Invite on Friday. 

The Lion men finished third in the team standings behind West Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist, while the Lion women recorded no team score. 

The Lions’ final regular-season race before the Lone Star Conference Championships will be on the same course on October 31. 

MEN’S 8K RUN

Rotich (Eldoret, Kenya) held off intense competition down the stretch, winning his third career race with a time of 25:34.29, winning by less than two seconds. 

“Another great performance by Nicodemus Rotich for his third straight win. I’m really excited about his performances and what he’ll do at the conference meet as an individual,” Lion cross country coach Trenton Phelps said. “As a team, another great performance, but we think that we can do better. We’re looking forward to going back to work for two more weeks and come back here and mix it up for a conference championship.” 

Oscar Leyva (Sherman) placed 13th at 26:28.86, Tanner Townsend (Royse City) placed 17th at 26:35.44. Timon Kemboi (Eldoret, Kenya) and Cooper Miller (Big Spring) were back-to-back on 19th and 20th at 26:52.44 and 26:54.05. Marshall Pate (Kaufman) completed the course in 27:57.07 for 38th place, and Joshua Schutter (Sachse) placed 60th at 30:15.98.

TEAM STANDINGS

1. West Texas A&M, 44
2. Dallas Baptist, 54
3. A&M-COMMERCE, 70
4. Cameron, 99
5. Texas A&M International, 101
6. Ranger College, 145
7. Angelo State,  189
8. Western Texas College, 211

WOMEN’S 6K RUN
The Lions were led by Yenifer Martinez (Irving – Nimitz), who placed 39^th at 26:24.65 in the Lions’ first 6-kilometer race of the year.

“On the women’s side, we had a great team race. We’re still working on getting the whole team back to racing together, but our top four runners ran well together and competed very well against some of the best teams in the conference on the same course as the conference meet,” said Phelps.  “We’re really looking like a team that’s peaking and starting to have really good performances. Yenifer Martinez ran a really good race as our front runner. I’m very proud of the things she’s doing to lead our team on the course.”

Kaitlyn King (Frisco – Wakeland) placed 45^th at 27:16.90, Evelyn Brown (Paris) placed 57^th at 28:28.27, and Mallory Morgan (Katy) placed 28:51.82.