COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Freshman
Dominic Kiptum of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi cross country program will be extending his run in the postseason as he qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships Friday at the South Central Regional race, hosted by Texas A&M.
Kiptum ran a 29:38.2 in the men's 10k for an eight-place finish in the region, securing a spot as an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championship and earning All-Region honors. Simultaneously, he also broke the program record for his time in the 10k.
Kiptum is the first Islander to qualify for the NCAA Championships since the 2022 season when
Dennis Kipngeno finished seventh at the regional race to punch his ticket to the championships for the second year in a row. Kiptum will be the just the fourth Islander to qualify for the race.
"I am immensely proud of Dominic, he had the best race of the season in the biggest moment," said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "He has earned this opportunity to experience a National Championship as a freshman."
Freshman
Diego Canto also represented the men at the regional race, finishing 60
th overall with a 31:27.7 time.
For the women,
Alicia Finnis earned All-Region honors after finishing 19
th overall in the women's 6k with a time of 20:07.2. She is the Islanders' best women's finisher at the NCAA Regionals since 2018 when Allyson Girard placed sixth overall to clinch an available spot to the NCAA Championship.
Freshman
Embla Hreimsdottir crossed at 21:07.0 as the next finisher for the women (61
st). Senior
Kate Brockman ended at 21:24.4 and freshman
Micah Mizell clocked a 21:41.2 time to both finish in the top half of the region's runners. Sophomore
Faith Ramos ran a 22:08.1 and freshman
Neele Heyne finished at 22:45.4.
It wraps up the cross country season for the women, who proved their No. 9 regional ranking by finishing in that spot today.
"On the women's side, this group continues to impress me with how they have competed throughout the championship portion of this season. This is a young group but raced beyond their age these last few weeks. The future is incredibly bright! Alicia led the way today and raced like an experienced upperclassman. I am one proud coach today!" said Jackson.
Kiptum will next head to Nationals on Nov. 23 which will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
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