Johnson County Community College
Press Release

College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Associate Vice President, Marketing Communications, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122

11/22/08
Story by Tyler Cundith

Johnson County women, South Plains men capture NJCAA Half Marathon titles

OVERLAND PARK, KS - Battling wind chill temperatures in the high teens, the field of 185 runners representing 27 teams hit the roads and trails that wove through Shawnee Mission Park and Mill Creek Streamway Park on Saturday morning, Nov. 22, at the NJCAA Half Marathon Championships in Shawnee, Kan. This is the sixth half marathon championship in NJCAA history.

The host school of this year’s championship, Johnson County Community College, captured the women’s team title, their fourth in the six-year history of this event. El Paso Community College finished second, and South Plains College was third. JCCC also won national half marathon titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

JCCC had two of the top six runners in the final standings. Sophomore Temer Yimer placed third with a time of 1:25:08, followed sophomore Francis Gipson with a time of 1:27:10.   Lilian Lagat of Rend Lake Community College was the individual national champion, crossing the finish line in 1:23:28. She recently posted a 12th place finish at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships. Tonya Nero of Colby Community College, a fifth place finisher at cross country nationals,  was runner-up in the half marathon with a time of 1:24:21. Rounding the top six were Samatha Meyerhoff of Mesa Community College (5th-1:28:44) and Gladys Chumba of South Plains College (6th-1:29:12).

The South Plains College men’s team won its second national half marathon title. Iowa Central Community College finished second and Johnson County Community College placed third.

Texans freshmen Tallam Kipruto, Mitchell Driver and Anthony Pequeno finished third, fifth and sixth respectively to lead their team to the championship. South Plains won its first national half marathon championship in 2006. Kipruto’s time was 1:10:18, followed by Driver at 1:12:40 and Pequeno at 1:13:00. Kipruto was a 10th place finisher at cross country nationals a few weeks ago.

Joshua Sawe of Iowa Central Community College was the men’s individual champion. He finished the 13.1 mile course in 1:09:44. Sawe was a 15th place finisher earlier this month at the cross country national championship. Finishing a close second to Sawe  was Robert Menjo of El Paso Community College. He finished in 1:09:54. Menjo also earned All-American in cross country placing eighth in Spartanburg, S.C.  Chris Mason of SUNY-Delhi posted a fourth place finish with a time of 1:11:24. Mason improved 13 places from his finish as a freshman in this championship.