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Harjamaki Wins HBU Invitational
Oct. 10, 2009
Lamar junior Joonas Harjamaki outdistanced the field at the HBU/Puma Invitational for his first cross country victory as a Cardinal on Saturday.
Harjamaki completed the sloppy and muddy 5k course in 16:22.9, eight seconds ahead of Daniel Martinez of Houston Baptist. The course consisted of five laps around a 1k loop.
"Joonas looked very good throughout the race," Lamar cross country coach Jake Stewart said. "He is coming off a late track season over the summer (in Europe) and is continuing to improve his fitness from week to week."
Hillary Samoei and Kyle Becker finish back-to-back in 11th and 12th, respectively. Stewart was pleased with the improvement Samoei made from last week's 8k race at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, albeit with shoe problems for much of the last two laps.
"Hillary ran better than in Wisconsin and did so with only about half of his shoe for the final two to three kilometers," Stewart said.
Maarten Van Dyck finished 14th in a time of 17:37 as he continues to work back to full strength following a foot injury. Randy Becker crossed just behind Van Dyck for 15 points, with Ryan Kelly and Jose Leos finishing in 18th and 19th place, respectively.
Lamar finished third in the team scoring with 53 points with the race being used as more of a tune-up for this weekend's NCAA Pre-National meet.
"It was more about just getting through it and racing while not worrying about times specifically," Stewart said.
Lamar will compete in both the men's and women's races this Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind.
Lamar Individual Results
Results - Men |
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