ORU runners, women’s cross country team win ACU Naimadu Classic
ABILENE, Texas — Avery Mazzei and Alex Leshan Ntiyani captured their respective individual titles, while the women’s team won their first meet since 2011 as the Oral Roberts University cross country teams concluded the 2023 regular season Friday evening at the ACU Naimadu Classics.
ABILENE, Texas — Avery Mazzei and Alex Leshan Ntiyani captured their respective individual titles, while the women’s team won their first meet since 2011 as the Oral Roberts University cross country teams concluded the 2023 regular season Friday evening at the ACU Naimadu Classics.
The women logged a total time of 1:52:57.35 en route to their first team title since 2011.
Mazzei earned her first collegiate win after registering a time of 22:02.09. The sophomore became the first ORU woman to capture an individual title since Samantha Watson in 2013.
Ntiyani paced the men’s field with a personal best time of 24:25.88, becoming the first Golden Eagle to capture an individual title since Emmanuel Kipngetich in 2019.
Patrick Kipkemboi (24:31.06) and Rushell Johnson (22:14.94) each registered runner-up finishes.
Deborah Mazzei recorded the highest finish of her Golden Eagle career as the sophomore placed fifth with a time of 22:44.03.
Macey Penner collected the first top-10 finish of her career after placing sixth with a time of 22:46.91.
Emily Coffey raced to a time of 23:09.38, which marked a personal best, en route to her first career top-10 finish. Erik Flores Burciaga logged his third top-10 performance as a Golden Eagle after placing seventh with a time of 25:02.62.
As a team, the men recorded a secondplace finish after registering a time of 2:07:35.94.
Nine different Golden Eagles logged personal bests on the evening.
The Golden Eagles travel to Brookings, S.D., for the Summit League Championships on Oct. 28.
