Iowa Central Women Cruise to National Title
National champion Adva Cohen had nearly 20 seconds on second place
FORT DODGE, Iowa-- Iowa Central added another national championship to their cross country dynasty. Today's win marks the sixth time in just ten years the Tritons have lifted the trophy at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships.
Mist began to fall as the women's 5k championship race kicked off with the booming of a Howitzer cannon.
Iowa Central's Adva Cohen made a repeat of the Region XI Championships two weeks prior on the same course and finished in 17 minutes and 24 seconds, nearly 20 seconds ahead of Garden City's Sandra Szpott's mark of 17:43.9.
All five of the Tritons' scoring runners finshed 17th or better. Marion Bartilol finished fifth at 18:03.0. TeammatesAaliyah Regg Wajid, Agnes Mansaray, and Abeba Sullivan rounded out the Iowa Central scoring with places of 13th, 16th, and 17th for a combined teamscore of 52 points.
Hawkeye's Joanna Topham made one of the bigger in-race pushes. At the first-mile mark, Topham was sitting in 86th place. By the two-mile mark she had increased her position to 55th. Topham closed the race at 38th, leading Hawkeye in their program's first-ever season.
Iowa Western finished 12th in the overall team standings led by Neri Getraide's 33rd place finish (19:17.9) .
COMPLETE RESULTS | PHOTOS | NJCAA RECAP
Team Results (with Top 5 ICCAC teams included)
|
Place |
School |
Score |
| 1 | Iowa Central | 52 |
| 2 | Central Arizona | 135 |
| 3 | Cowley County (KS) | 175 |
| 4 | Southern Idaho | 179 |
| 5 | Allen County (KS) | 204 |
| 12 | Iowa Western | 371 |
| 26 | Hawkeye | 727 |
| 29 | NIACC | 788 |
| 34 | Indian Hills | 880 |
Top 10 finishers (with Top 50 ICCAC finishers included)
|
Place |
Athlete |
School |
Time |
| 1 | Adva Cohen | Iowa Central | 17:24.4 |
| 2 | Sandra Szpott | Garden City | 17:43.9 |
| 3 | Winnie Kibet | Colby (KS) | 17:54.8 |
| 4 | Leslie Romero | South Plains (TX) | 17:59.6 |
| 5 | Marion Bartilol | Iowa Central | 18:03.0 |
| 6 | Anais Da Silva | Vincennes (IN) | 18:10.9 |
| 7 | Shalet Mitei | El Paso (TX) | 18:11.8 |
| 8 | Shaylee Hill | Southern Idaho | 18:14.1 |
| 9 | Seselia Dala | South Plains (TX) | 18:16.7 |
| 10 | Esther Gitahi | New Mexico | 18:24.1 |
| 13 | Aaliyah Regg Wajid | Iowa Central | 18:37.1 |
| 16 | Agnes Mansaray | Iowa Central | 18:47.7 |
| 17 | Abeba Sullivan | Iowa Central | 18:49.0 |
| 24 | Marta Lukijaniuk | Iowa Central | 18:58.1 |
| 28 | Katy Pfile | Iowa Central | 19:03.8 |
| 33 | Neri Getraide | Iowa Western | 19:17.9 |
| 38 | Joanna Topham | Hawkeye | 19:22.3 |