Saturday, October 30, 2010

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Nabil Hamid, Jaakko Nieminen and Piotr Witzack all posted top-ten finishes to help the Kennesaw State Owls defend their title at the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Championship at Milliken Research Park. USC Upstate’s Gilbert Kemboi claimed the individual title with an impressive race as the sophomore runner crossed the finish line in 24:00.84 nearly 41 seconds ahead of Hamid in second, the second largest gap in A-Sun history.

Nieminen and Witzack followed their teammate with finishes of third and seventh place to claim first team all-conference honors. The Belmont Bruins took runner-up honors with 68 points as their top-five finishers all claimed top-20 honors and were led by three-time all-conference member Hillary Cheruiyot, who placed sixth, and Freshman of the Year Erick Kigen in 10th.

The host Spartans finished as the third-place team as Davey Dennison joined Kemboi in the top-ten with an eighth-place finish. Kemboi built on a runner-up finish from a year ago with the second-fastest time in A-Sun history by a champion.

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Read Atlantic Sun Insider Column: Hometown Fans Cheer on a Champion

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UNF’s trio of Mike Strasser, Will Pearce and Cameron Dickerson led the Ospreys to fourth place as the trio completed the race in 9th, 11th and 12th place, all within a 12-second time frame. Campbell rounded out the top-five for the team finishers with senior Terrence Attema taking fifth to lead the Fighting Camels.

ETSU’s Benjamin Ronoh earned his third all-conference performance with his fourth-place finish as Ronoh and Cheruiyot became the 17th and 18th runners in A-Sun history to earn all-conference three times in their career.

Kennesaw State Head Coach Stan Sims earned Coach of the Year honors for the second-consecutive season.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts five of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.