FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas senior Stanley Kebenei wasn't going to lose at home in Friday's NCAA South Central Regional cross country meet.
Not to a Texas Longhorn, especially.
"I was running to win for the home crowd," Kebenei said. "If I had let the University of Texas kid win, it would have been pretty messed up."
Kebenei pulled away from Texas senior Craig Lutz to win the 10,000-meter race in 29:08.1 at Arkansas' Agri Park and lead the Razorbacks to the team title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Arkansas won with 42 points, with Texas taking second with 51. Central Arkansas took ninth among 23 teams with 300 points.
It was Kebenei's second consecutive NCAA regional victory and his fourth victory this year. He won the SEC title two weeks ago.
"Stanley is a superstar," Arkansas Coach Chris Bucknam said. "The gentleman that he beat from Texas is an outstanding distance runner, one of the best in the country, and yet it looked like Stanley handled it pretty good.
"Stanley runs smart. He knows he has to race next Saturday, so I think what he did was just do enough to win and get the low stick for us, get that one point for us on the board."
Arkansas junior Gabe Gonzalez and freshman Alex George exchanged a fist bump as they crossed the finish line in 29:55.00, with Gonzalez officially finishing fifth and George sixth. Also scoring for the Razorbacks were junior Cale Wallace (ninth in 30:01.09) and sophomore Aidan Swain (21st in 30:21.9).
"I'm really, really proud of the effort that these guys have put in this year," Bucknam said. "A lot of two-a-day runs, a lot of long runs on dirt roads. These kids have done a phenomenal job, and they've improved tremendously from last year to this year.
"We don't take any of this lightly. We're the SEC champs, and now we're the South Central Regional champs."
Kebenei is a native of Kenya and transferred to Arkansas from Iowa Central Community College, but he quickly has embraced the Razorbacks' tradition of winning national and conference championships.
"We run with the spirit of being a Hog, and being at home with all these fans coming to cheer us, that makes it even more fun," Kebenei said. "That's driving you to win."
Lutz ran with Kebenei for much of the race, but Kebenei said he never doubted he'd finish first.
"The race was good, but I was strong," Kebenei said. "The University of Texas kid couldn't take me down."
Bucknam said Kebenei has developed into a fitting team leader.
"I'm just proud of him," Bucknam said. "I'm proud of how he handles his business, how enthusiastic he is. He's a world-class athlete, but he's all about this team."
Sports on 11/15/2014