Chesang Shines at Pre-Nationals

Oct. 16, 2004

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – After a three week break, Stanley Redwine and the Kansas cross country teams were back in action Saturday at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana. 37 of the nation’s top 45 teams traveled to Indiana State University to participate in the event.

The Jayhawks top seven runners competed in the main races, with other runners competing in two open races. Sophomore Benson Chesang was KU’s top finisher in the men’s blue race, placing third out of 252 racers in the 8k race. Chesang, who was competing in just his second race of the year, finished in 23:54.6. Behind Chesang, junior Matt French was the Jayhawks next finisher in 100th (25:13.7). Senior Chris Jones finished 108th with a time of 25:17.3.

As a team the Jayhawks finished 22nd out of 37 teams with 488 points. Colorado was the overall winner of the blue race with 63 points. Matt Gonzales of New Mexico took the individual title in a time of 23:57.2.

“Benson had a great race in just his second outing of the season. Our goal is for the team to compete at the same level as Benson did,” head coach Stanley Redwine said. “The competition was really good at this race. 37 of the top 45 teams in the nation were here, obviously we wanted to do better, but our goal is to continue to get better and compete well at the conference meet and I think we are on our way to doing that.”

The Kansas women competed in the white race finishing 36th. Freshman Connie Abbott was the Jayhawks top finisher in the 6k race, placing 128th with a time of 22:25.7.

In the open men’s race, freshman Paul Hefferon had an impressive run with a 17th place finish in 25:25.1. Junior Joshy Mathadil placed 53rd in 26:04.5.

Next up, the Jayhawks will travel to Topeka, Kan., to compete in the Big 12 Championships on October 30th.