Tech Wraps Cross Country Season in Salt Lake City

Friday, November 15

Salt Lake City, Utah

Texas Tech Athletics

NCAA Mountain Region Championships

Tech Wraps Cross Country Season in Salt Lake City

November 15, 2019 | Cross Country

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Red Raiders and Lady Raiders place one each inside top-35 at Mountain Region Championships.

By: Jeremy O'Brien

SALT LAKE CITY – Texas Tech's cross country season concluded with action in Salt Lake City at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships. The women's team placed 14^th and the men 16^th in a stacked regional field.

Nokuthula Dlamini led the Lady Raiders with a 33^rd-place finish in a stacked Mountain Region field. She crossed in 20:59.4. It was her second-best 6k time of the season, 23 seconds short of the personal-best 20:36.9 she ran at Texas A&M in October. Dlamini was followed by Seselia Dala, whose 21:06.3 was good for 37^th overall.

Claudrice McKoy was even closer to a PR, running just 15 seconds off with a final time of 22:02.8. As has been the trend this season, Binta Ka hopped in to score with a 22:20.3. She was just nine seconds off a personal best.

"The ladies did a great job handling a difficult race at altitude," said head coach Jon Murray. "The entire group competed well with a few PRs. This was a good way to end the year."

The men were tasked with running their first 10k of the season. As he has since debuting at Texas A&M, Takieddine Hedeilli led the Red Raiders. He crossed in 31:26.2 to place 31^st as the highest-finishing Tech runner of the day. Cornelius Kiprotich ran his first 10k as well, finishing in 32:56.7 to place 82^nd. Nathan Gift was again following up Hedeilli and Kiprotich, concluding his Tech career with a 33:06.0 to place 87^th. Luke Estes (33:46.2) and Eric Maclean (34:00.3) rounded out the scoring for Tech, both running their first career 10k.

"The men struggled some," Murray said. "A couple of our top runners had some difficulties that cost us some valuable points. It was a tough way to end the year."