Dominique Scott and Stanley Kebenei earned All-America honors Saturday as the Arkansas women finished fifth and the Arkansas men finished 28th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Scott, a redshirt junior, finished sixth overall, covering the 6,000-meter women's course in 20 minutes, 1.3 seconds to earn All-America honors for the second time. The two-time runner of the year in the SEC became the ninth Arkansas women's runner to earn multiple All-America honors and the first since Lilli Kleinmann accomplished the feat in 1999 and 2000.
"She continues to improve every single season," said Lance Harter, Arkansas' women's coach. "She was more competitive this year, and when people talk about who the favorites are going from here out into track season, she will be in the conversation. ... This cross season has really set her up nicely for a strong track year."
Michigan State placed four runners among the top 25 and scored 85 points to win its first NCAA championship. It was followed by Iowa State (147), New Mexico (188) and Georgetown (189).
All five of the Razorbacks' scoring runners placed among the top 100 as Arkansas finished with 209 points. It was Arkansas' first top-five finish since 2006, when the Razorbacks also placed fifth, and was also the eighth top-five finish in the program's history.
Arkansas redshirt junior Diane Robison finished 55th in 20:55.40. Senior Jessica Kamilos placed 58th (20:56.30), redshirt senior Grace Heymfield was 72nd (21:02.50) and senior Shannon Klenke was 94th (21:10.90). Freshman Kelsey Schrader finished 154th (21:35.7) and sophomore Regan Ward was 181st (21:46.7).
"Four of our five top runners had brilliant days," Harter said. "Diane, Shannon and Jessica had great days. They were able to do what we asked and they gave us strong performances, but the game is played with five runners.
"Sadly, Grace Heymsfield had an off day by her standards. She was able to still finish higher than she did last year, and a lot of people would love to place where she did, but for her to finish 72nd overall and it be considered an off race is a true testament to her talents."
Kate Avery of Iona won the women's individual title with a time of 19:31.60.
Kebenei finished in 30:30.1 and finished sixth in the men's race for the second time in his career. He became the 30th men's runner in school history to earn multiple NCAA All-America honors. The last was one to accomplish that feat was Dorian Ulrey in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Edward Cheserek of Oregon won the men's individual title with a time of 30:19.40.
"Stanley did a great job today, there's no question about that," said Chris Bucknam, Arkansas' men's coach. "There was a point late in the race he was second, but he tried to catch Cheserek a bit too early and that caused him to slip back a few spots towards the end."
Arkansas scored 647 points and was well off the pace of men's champion Colorado, which placed three runners among the top five and finished with 65 points. Stanford (98), Portland (175), Northern Arizona (188) and Syracuse (206) rounded out the top five.
Junior Cale Wallace was the second Arkansas runner to cross the finish line, coming in 151st (31:57.40). Freshman Alex George finished 183rd (32:20.50) and junior Gabe Gonzalez was 209th (32:45.30). Redshirt sophomore Aidan Swain finished 218th (32:55.00) to round out Arknasas' scoring.
Sophomore Christian Heymsfield (33:14.5) finished 227th and freshman Austen Dalquis (33:18.7) was 229th.
"I know if you go talk to our guys, they'll tell you it wasn't the performance they were hoping for," Bucknam said. "I felt this was a team that could finish Top 20, but that ultimately didn't happen. The kids put in a great season, they worked hard, won the SEC Championship, but they were expecting a good finish today.
"With this race you can't be shy. You have to get out early and get in a good position and outside of Stanley, we were unable to do that"
Sports on 11/23/2014