November 11, 2017
Iowa Central reclaims DI men's cross country title
Southern Idaho's Eric Fitzpatrick took home the individual title
CHAMPIONSHIP HOME | RESULTS | PHOTOS
Fort Dodge, IA — For the third time in four years, Iowa Central has claimed the NJCAA DI Men's Cross Country Championship. The Tritons ran away with Saturday's meet, posting a low score of 65. The Tritons boasted two of the top three individual finishers at the Lakeside Golf Course, Iowa Central's home course.
Eric Fitzpatrick of Southern Idaho finished as the top overall finisher with a time of 24:44.0 on the 8k course. Fitzpatrick becomes just the second Golden Eagle to win a NJCAA individual crown and the first since 1980. Iowa Central's Ezekiel Kipchirchir and Karim Achengli finished second and third, respectively, to guide the Tritons to the team title.
- All five scorers for Iowa Central finished inside the top 30 to give the top-ranked Tritons their third title in program history.
- Kipchirchir's second place finish came in a time of 24:48.5 while Achengli finished the course in 24:51.6.
- Central Arizona, one year removed from a national title produced a team score of 112 to finish second in the meet.
- Central Arizona placed four runners inside the top 30 to finish inside the top three team totals for the third consecutive season.
- South Plains (TX), Gillette (WY), and Allen County (KS) rounded out the top five team scoring.
- The Iowa Central men joined their female counterparts to sweep the NJCAA DI Cross Country titles on Saturday.
Photos courtesy of Paul DeCoursey
