FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Men's Cross Country runner Stanley Kebenei is featured in one of the highest circulated sports weekly magazines in America. Sports Illustrated's November 3rd edition of ‘Faces In The Crowd’ highlights the Razorback runner.
The ‘Faces in the Crowd’ feature has been a part of Sports Illustrated magazine since 1956 and highlights amateur athletes around the country for their athletic feats. The Nov. 3 issue of Sports Illustrated is on newsstands now and be sure to look out for the online version of ‘Faces in the Crowd’ by clicking HERE.
The Kenya native is one of seven athletes from across the country to be featured in the section, which appears on page 24 of the Nov. 3 issue of SI. The front cover of the edition features Hunter Pence and the San Francisco Giants.
In his last outing, the senior All-American turned in an outstanding performance at the 2014 Southeastern Conference Championships (Oct. 31), as he took charge and ran away from the field in the closing lap to help the No. 24 Arkansas men’s cross country team capture its fifth straight SEC cross country title at Harry Pritchett Running Course in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Kebenei, who placed second at last year’s SEC Championship, was neck-and-neck with Auburn senior and 2013 All-American Ty McCormack through the first two laps off the race. Kebenei was able to fend off his foe in the final lap, as he broke through with an insurmountable lead over the final stretch to finish the 8K race in 23:49.27, 11 seconds faster than second-place McCormack, to win his first career SEC individual title.
The first-place performance paced a Razorbacks squad that had four runners place inside the top 10 to earn them an overall score of 54, putting them just ahead of Ole Miss’ 60 points to capture the program’s 22nd SEC title in 24 years.
The Razorbacks will continue to focus on the championship portion of the schedule their next time out, as they will return home to compete in the NCAA South Central Regional. The race from Agri Park is set for Nov. 14 and will begin at 1 p.m.
For more information on Arkansas men’s cross country, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.