Cowboy cross country standout
Ismael Samano capped his Highlands career with a 172nd place finish at the 2012 NCAA DII Cross Country Championships held Saturday (11/17) in Joplin, M0.
Samano entered the race with high hopes of an All-American (top 40) finish after qualifying from the tough Central Region two weeks ago. "There are eight regions, " noted HU coach
Bob DeVries, "But the Central took 11 of the top 25 and 15 of the All-American spots in the race." Samano had placed 18th in the Central Region.
RMAC and Regional foe Adams State won the men's team title and Alaska-Anchorage senior Micah Chelimo was the individual champion. RMAC teams took three of top six and put four squads in the top 11 (Adams 1st, Colorado Mines 2nd, Western State 6th and Colorado-Colorado Springs 11th)
Samano appeared to be in good position 1000 meters into the race--going by among the top 50 at that point. "I thought he was in a good spot at the 1km" said DeVries, "He just never got moving after that."
The Cowboy senior felt an over aggressive start might have taken him out of his race plan; "The start was super fast and aggressive," said Samano, "I wasn't comfortable from early on. I tried, but I just couldn't go with the pack I expected to be racing."
Samano's appearance marked the fourth national qualifier in the last five seasons for the HU program The men's team last ran at nationals in 2007--interestingly, a 10th place national finish on the same Joplin course.
Grand Valley State won the women's national championship with Adams State's Alicia Nelson taking individual honors.
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GO COWBOYS!!!
