Nov. 11, 2006

WACO, Texas - The Lamar University men's and women's cross country teams had strong showings at the NCAA South Central Regional Saturday morning, with the men finishing in third place and the women coming in fourth. Samuel Kosgei, Francis Kasagule and Renee Graham automatically qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 20 with their performances.

The Cardinal men were led by Kosgei who finished in fourth place, running the 10,000-meter course in a time of 29:44.6 while Kasagule finished just behind him in fifth place in a time of 29:54.1. Frank Bwambale also turned in a solid performance, finishing in 14th place in a time of 30:40.4. Lamar's top three finishers all earned All-South Central Region honors.

Danny Shaw placed 32nd in a time of 31:44.4 and Aaron Brannen rounded out the Cardinals top 50 finishers with a 49th place finish, running a 32:13.1. Randy Becker came in 109th for Lamar, running a 35:03.1 while Ewan Simpson turned in a time of 36:01.5 for a 116th place finish.

"This was a great way for our guys to complete the season," head coach Trey Clark said. "The season might not be over for this team though. We have a chance to get an at large bid for our team to go to the NCAA Championships. These guys did everything they could to get in, now we just have to wait and see."

The Cardinals will wait until Sunday to find out if they will receive an at large bid to the NCAA Championships.

On the women's side, Graham turned in a third place performance, running the 6,000-meter course in a time of 20:42.6, earning All-South Central Region honors. With her finish, she automatically qualified for the NCAA Championship, her second trip in as many years. Last year Graham finished in 13th place at the Regional.

"We knew it would be tougher to get an individual to qualify for nationals this year because there was only going to be two teams advancing," Clark said. "For Renee to come out and run that well is great. We knew we would have a chance to get a runner qualified, and a third place finish makes it even better."

Clerc Koenck and Amanda King also had strong runs for Lamar, both finishing in the top 20. Koenck narrowly missed All-region honors, finishing in 16th place in a time of 21:05.5, while King came in 19th place in a time of 21:12.9.

Stacey Monteau finished in 38th place in a time of 22:13.7, giving LU four runners in the top 50. Karesse Lethermon came in 74th place with a time of 23:16.4, and Mary Johnson rounded out the Lady Cardinals finishers with a 97th place finish in a time of 24:29.4.

Arkansas claimed both the men's and women's team title while Southern Methodist's Rachael Forish claimed the individual women's title with a time of 20:30.4 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Shadrack Songok won the men's individual title finishing in a time of 29:40.5.