Razorbacks runner-up in region, advance to NCAA Championships

FAYETTEVILLE --  With Razorback Timothy Chesondin winning the NCAA South Central Region individual title and three Arkansas teammates placing among the top six, Arkansas finished second in team scoring to earn automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships.

Chesondin covered the 10,000m course at Agri Park in 28:44.4 for the victory over the Tulane tandem of Bernard Cheruiyot (28:51.3) and Silas Kiptanui (29:11.2) as the Green Wave claimed the team title with 44 points to 46 for the Razorbacks.

It’s the closest men’s team finish since three points separated Arkansas and Texas (34-37) in 2013. In 2002, two points separated the Razorbacks and SMU (47-49).

Tulane (2-3-11-12-16) captured its first-ever region title as Arkansas (1-4-5-6-30) qualified for the national championship field for the 14th consecutive year and 51st time over the past 52 years.

The Razorbacks race again on Saturday, November 22, on the Gans Creek course in Columbia, Missouri.

The rest of the top 10 teams in the South Central Region included Texas A&M (83), Stephen F. Austin (112), Texas (118), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (183), TCU (201), Rice (279), Incarnate Word (295), and UT-Arlington (318).

This marks the fourth consecutive year for a Razorback to win the men’s individual region title. Chesondin was runner-up in the South Central Region meet a year ago to teammate Kirami Yego while Patrick Kiprop claimed the 2023 South Central title with Yego runner-up. Kiprop also won the 2022 race.

In addition to Chesondin, three other Razorbacks earned All-Region honors as James Sankei placed fourth in 29:16.7, Brian Masai finished fifth in 29:21.5, and Ben Shearer was the top American finisher in sixth place with a time of 29:26.1.

Through the first four runners for each team, Arkansas had a score of 16 points while Tulane was at 28. The fifth runner for the Green Wave placed 16 to reach the score of 44 while Jack Williams (31:08.2) placed 30th in adjusted scoring as the Razorbacks fifth runner to produce a team score of 46.

Arkansas also had Eli Seavey (31:43.1 | 49th) and Donovan Bitticks (32:27.3 | 81st) in the race among a field of 167 who completed the course.