by By Brent Cahwee, NDNSPORTS.COM
(Lawrence, Kansas) – The 2013 NAIA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country National Championships are being held Saturday November 23rd in Lawrence, Kansas at the historic Rim Rock Farm cross country course.
Built in 1974, Rim Rock Farm has been home to three Big Eight Championships (1983, 1991 and 1995), the NCAA Division I and II Championships (1998), a Big 12 Championship (2006) and countless high school state championships.
The 8-kilometer men’s race will begin at 10:30 a.m. CST, with the 5-kilometer women’s race to follow at 11:45 a.m. CST. The Championships Award Ceremony will be held following the event. The women’s race will feature a total of 327 athletes from 95 schools and the men’s race will feature 321 athletes from 96 schools.
Among those countless athletes, Indian Country will have good representation from a handful of runners who have qualified individually for Nationals or as part of one of the 32 conference champion team qualifiers.
Among those running, that we are of and not ranked in any special order are;
Talisa Budder (Haskell Indian Nations University) Individual qualifier, what would a cross country meet in Lawrence, Kansas be if it didn’t’ have any representation from Haskell Indian Nations University. Talisa, from Kenwood, Oklahoma, and member of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. She is a two-time Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) Champion (2011 and 2012) and is competing in her third NAIA National Cross Country Championships. Talisa has been running for Haskell for the last three years and named Freshmen of the Year in 2011 for the MCAC. Talisa was also a member of the Haskell women’s team winning the MCAC Conference Cross Country title in 2012. Talisa was “Runner of the Week” for the MCAC in 2012 and 2013 selected 11 times.
Ashlee Wermy (Haskell Indian Nations University) Individual qualifier, Ashlee is a member of the Comanche Nation tribe from Cache, Oklahoma. This is her second season at Haskell running cross country and track. Ashlee is a member of the 2012 team winning the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) title and this is her second trip to the Nationals for cross country. In 2012 and 2013 she earned Honorable Mention (2nd Team) MCAC honors in cross country and was named to the 2013 Academic All Scholar team. Ashlee’s personal best was at this year’s MCAC meet with a time of 20:55.
Tiar’e Littlehead (Haskell Indian Nations University) Individual qualifier, Tiar’e is a member of the Lakota tribe and is from Wolf Point, Montana and a sophomore at Haskell. She has run collegiately for two years for the Indians. This is her second time to qualify for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships (2012 and 2013). Tiar’e earned Honorable Mention in 2012 (2nd team) at the Midlands Collegiate Conference Championships (MCAC) and MCAC All Conference (1st team) in 2013. She was also a member of the Haskell’s Women’s team capturing our conference championship (MCAC) in Cross Country for 2012.
Valarie Segay (Kansas Wesleyan University) Team qualifier, Val is a member of the Navajo Nation and is a junior from Phoenix, Arizona. This is Val’s first season with the KWU Coyotes and this will be her first trip to the NAIA Nationals. Val was the top finisher for the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes that won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference championships a few weeks ago which made them automatic qualifiers to Nationals. Val’s ninth place finish earned her KCAC All-Conference honors. Val was also named KCAC runner of the week earlier in the season when she finished 11th the Missouri Southern Stampede, a NCAA D2 meet, in Joplin, Missouri. Val was the top finisher for all of the KCAC conference teams that were competing in the meet. (Note: We have learned that due to an injury, Val will not be competing at this year’s NAIA nationals, however, she will be in attendance to support her teammates.)
Chad Upshaw (Haskell Indian Nations University) Individual qualifier, Chad is Dine’ from Shiprock, New Mexico and has attended Haskell and run competitively for the last two years. This year Chad and his teammates won the Midland’s Collegiate Athletic Conference (MCAC) team title for 2013. Chad’s finish at the MCAC/Northstar conference meet earned him the honor of being named the 2013 Runner of the Year for the MCAC. This is Chad’s second time qualifying for the NAIA XC Championships (2012 and 2013). Chad has also been selected “Runner of the Week” for the MCAC during the 2013 season.
Allison Denetchee (William Carey University), Individual qualifier, Allison, Dine, from Coolidge, Arizona is a transfer from Central Arizona College. Denetchee qualified for this year’s championship thanks to her 8th place finish at the 2013 SSAC Championship. This season Denetchee has been named SSAC Runner of the Week twice and has one win and three top 10 finishes.
Kyle Olson (Rocky Mountain College) Team qualifier, Kyle, Chippewa Cree Tribe, is a freshman on the Rocky Mountain College cross country team, and he recently placed sixth at the Frontier Conference Cross Country Championships, held recently in Lewiston, Idaho. Olson, who captured the 2012 Class B state cross country championship while running for the Stars, finished the Frontier meet with a time of 24:24 which not only put him in sixth place, but also earned him a trip to the NAIA national cross country championships. Olson was also named Frontier All-Conference for his efforts.
Richard Langdeaux (Valley City State University) Team qualifier, Richard is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, and is a transfer Junior from Bakersfield Community College. Richard led the VCSU Vikings to the NAIA Championship by winning the MCAC/North Star conference national qualifying meet in Lawrence, Kansas a few weeks ago. Richard led the Vikings with a second-place finish in a time of 27:28.27. Head XC Coach Kenneth Frenette said, “Since Richard has joined the team this season he has made an immediate impact by leading the team on the trails in consistently being our number one Harrier.”
Mackenzie Lawrence Wahpepah-Harris (Oklahoma City University) Team qualifier, Mackenzie (Kickapoo Tribe ), is a freshman, who runs for Oklahoma City University. The OCU Stars, ranked No. 5 in NAIA men’s cross country, punched their ticket to the NAIA Championships by winning the Sooner Athletic Conference title for the first time in program history. OCU won all six of its races this season and had six runners earn all-SAC distinction, including freshman Wahpepah-Harris. This will be the first trip ever for the Oklahoma City University Stars.
These are some of the Native American athletes that we are aware of competing at the NAIA National Championships, if you know any that we haven’t mentioned here then please let us know and we will get them added to the list. Best of luck to all the participants!
