Terre Haute, Ind. – Wichita State junior Aliphine Tuliamuk won the Missouri Valley Conference women’s cross country championship Sunday, as the Shocker women finished second as a team and the Wichita State men finished fourth at the 2011 State Farm MVC Cross Country Championship.
The Shocker women entered the meet having won the previous six MVC team titles starting with the 2005 season. The Wichita State men posted the Shockers’ highest team finish since also finishing fourth in 2008.
Tuliamuk, the 2011 MVC Women’s All-Conference Athlete of the Year, took the lead about one mile into the 5K women’s race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course as temperatures hovered around 50 degrees. She continued to extend her lead until crossing the finish line in 17:16.6 – 23.4 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Sunday marked Tuliamuk’s third individual cross country win of the season.
Tuliamuk’s win also marked the second-straight individual women’s conference championship for the Shockers and sixth overall. Wichita State’s Tonya Nero won the 2010 women’s individual MVC title.
“The race was pretty good,” Tuliamuk said. “I didn’t really have a strategy plan to run. I just kind of felt like I was just going to wait…and when we got to almost 2K I decided to pull out because I thought it would be a good idea since it was only 5K.”
Shockers Scarla Nero and Patrober Murindat also picked up all-conference honors for their top-10 finishes. Nero, a senior from Maracas, Trinidad and Tobago, finished fourth overall in 17:52.1. Murindat, a senior from Eldorat, Kenya, came in sixth overall in 18:05.2.
Illinois State won the women’s team title Sunday with 44 points. The Wichita State women finished in second with 54 points and Bradley in third with 91 points.
“To lose for the first time in seven years is a disappointment, but Illinois State is a tremendous team and we knew it all year,” Wichita State cross country head coach Kirk Hunter said. “We knew coming in that if we didn’t win matchups, we wouldn’t win. It came down to the end. Illinois State just ran very well and did a great job.”
The Indiana State men won their third team title in a row with 34 points. Drake’s Brogan Austin won the men’s 8K in 25:15.
Southern Illinois finished second as a team with 48 points in the men’s race, followed by Drake with 66 points and the Shocker men with 114 points.
Senior Jackson Toroitich, from Eldorat, Kenya, paced the Shocker men with a 17th-place individual finish in 25:53.5. Junior Jake Wike finished 20th (25:57.3) and junior Marcos Bailon finished 22nd (25:58.1).
“Our top five kept together,” Hunter said. “They did a good job and now we’ll be moving on to the regional championships.
“With the men and the women, we’re not done yet.”
The Shockers’ cross country season continues Saturday, Nov. 12 with the NCAA Regionals at DeKalb, Ill.
