T-Bird (MXC) Finishes 7th at Nationals, Cheruiyot Named USTFCCCA All-American

The Thunderbird men's cross country team finished in seventh place on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the NJCAA DI Cross Country 8k Championships in Richmond, VA.

The T-Birds headed into the race ranked the No. 6 team in the country according to the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll. NMJC placed seventh with a team score of 239 points behind Crowder CC in sixth place (182 points), El Paso CC in fifth place (153 points), Butler CC in fourth (125 points), Hutch CC in third (94 points), Iowa Western CC in second place (85 points), and national champion Salt Lake (52 points). 

"I mean to be able to finish seventh basically without your top two because we knew Mohammed wasn't going to be there with injury, but then we lost Killian who didn't finish," NMJC men's cross country head coach Jeff Becker said. "So basically we were without our top two, and to still finish seventh in the nation with as tough as it was this year was really a good accomplishment."

The T-Birds top runner Killian LeBourhis did not finish the race after reaggravating a lower leg injury in the final 1k. The injury was unfortunate because LeBourhis was leading at one point in the race and dropped out when he still in the top 15. 

Brian Cheruiyot was the leading man for the Thunderbirds on the course in Richmond. The Kapsabet, Kenya native ran a career-best 24:24.50 in the race to finish in 19th place. Cheruiyot's performance was a 1.90 second improvement and earned him USTFCCCA All-American honors.

Emmanuel Kimaiyo was the second T-Bird across the finish line in 46th place with a time of 25:16.20. Kimaiyo's time was a personal record by 3.60 seconds.  

Sophomore Paul Maurer placed 48th with a finish of 25:18.00. The time was a 56.80 second improvement compared to the 2023 championship in Huntsville, Ala.

Cyprien Bille cracked the No. 4 spot for NMJC in the lineup with his 59th-place performance on Saturday. The 25:46.80 finish was the first time Bille broke the 26 second barrier in his cross country career and was 1:25.80 seconds better (111th place) than what he ran at the 2023 championship.

Iseral Takap rounded out the team score with an 83rd-place finish of 26:11.90. The time is a personal best by 17.80 seconds. Freshman Romain Gireme came back from injury to finish in 107th place with a time of 26:37.70.

"We had some personal bests out of that group," Coach Becker said. "I think Brian ran his personal best. Emmanuel ran his personal best. I think Iseral ran a personal best as well. So, we had some good personal best there and then, like you said Paul didn't have his personal best, but Paul had a great run compared to what he ran last year at nationals. So overall they competed well, and I think they did the best that they could for what we had out there."

The T-Birds will compete in the 2024 NJCAA Half Marathon at Dorey Park starting at 9:15 a.m. EST in Richmond, VA. Live results can be found here. There will be no stream.