Record performance earns Kirami Yego another Chile Pepper title

FAYETTEVILLE – Razorback Kirami Yego defended his Chile Pepper Festival title in the McDonnell Memorial 8k and set a meet and Agri Park course record with a winning time of 22 minutes, 57.0 seconds to lead No. 3 Arkansas to a team victory.

Five Razorbacks placed among the top 10 on Saturday’s race as Arkansas totaled 29 points from a 1-3-6-9-10 finish. Western Colorado placed second in team scoring with 127 points, followed by East Central (159), CSU Pueblo (178), and Alabama – Huntsville (188).

The next five teams included SFA (192), Butler CC (207), Hutchinson CC (259), LSU (264), and Tarleton State (271). A total of 25 teams scored in the McDonnell Memorial.

Yego bettered the field by 22 seconds with Elkana Kipruto of SFA runner-up in 23:19.2 and Razorback teammate Timothy Chesondin placing third in 23:23.6.

After winning the 2023 Chile Pepper Festival race in 23:14.1, Yego became the first to produce a time under 23 minutes over 8,000m at Agri Park. The previous best time of 23:03.6 was set by Vincent Kiprop of Missouri Southern in 2016.

The previous fastest time by a Razorback on the course belonged to Josphat Boit, who clocked 23:09.9 on a different course layout during the 2004 SEC Championships.

Yego covered the first mile of the race in 4:31.6 with teammate Brian Masai second in 4:32.1. At the 2 mile split, Yego led the field in 9:16.8 with Chesondin second at that stage in 9:17.1.

Yego increased his lead to nine seconds at the 5.5k split with a 15:24.4 while Chesondin crossed that mark in 15:33.2. A 7k, Yego was 20 seconds ahead of Chesondin (20:29.6) with Kipruto in third (20:30.1).

Masai finished sixth in the race with a time of 23:59.4. Then Elias Schreml and Reuben Reina competed the Arkansas team score as they placed ninth and 10th with times of 24:05.4 and 24:05.8.

Tommy Romanow led the rest of the Razorback crew in placing 13th with a time of 24:18.7. Davis Helmerich finished 28th in 24:46.1 with Donovan Bitticks placing 48th in 25:02.4.

Arkansas entries in the race included Eli Seavey (62nd | 25:16.6), Leo Spitzer (66th | 25:20.1), and Dawson Welch (91st | 25:42.9). A total of 273 runners finished the race.