Oct. 11, 2008
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's cross country team finished first at the UMES Hawk Challenge Saturday, bolstered by a second-place showing from Merrecia James (Portland Jamaica), while the men's team, edged by Norfolk State University, was second.
James (18:19.99) and the Lady Hawks scored 36 points, securing the top spot over NSU by 15 in a race where the Spartans' Jennifer Chichester broke the course record with a time of 17:59.10.
Despite Peter Sang (Kapsabet, Kenya) and Amon Kiprotich (Kapsabet, Kenya) running first and second in times of 25:24.77 and 25:25.21, respectively, in the men's 8K for the Hawks, the Spartans placed all five of their scorers in the top-seven spots to take the win by 17 points.
Celia Whyte (Manchester, Jamaica) was fifth in the 5K women's event in 18:45.66, followed by Eunice Jones (Lanham, Md.), who was seventh in 18:52.54. Tamica Thomas (St. Catherine, Jamaica) and Cynthia Anais (Paris, France) rounded out the UMES scorers, crossing in ninth and 13th in 19:04.01 and 19:51.78.
The UMES men placed their final three scorers in the top 20. Maritim Shadrack (Kericho, Kenya) finished eighth in 27:18.38. Solomon Kirongo (Nairobi, Kenya) was 11th, coming in with a time of 27:53.70 and Jerome Pyuzza (Laurel, Md.) was 20th in 29:07.03.
Other finishers for the men were Mamadou Diallo (Hyattsville, Md.) in 32:34.10, Paul Jones-Burden (Rahway, N.J.) in 32:49.15 and Kenneth Greene (Windsor Mill, Md.) in 34:27.88.
Non-scorers for the women were Betty Chumbe (Nairobi, Kenya) finishing in 20:45.83, Janeth Chelangat (Nairobi, Kenya) in 21:24.96, Jessica Abrantes (Scotch Plains, N.J.) in 21:38.57 and Tiffany Webb (Upper Malboro, Md.) in 22:31.21.
UMES cross country is on the road next Saturday in Newark, Del., at the Delaware Invite.
