by FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma City University won the men’s race, while the women took runner-up in the college division of the Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday at Agri Park.
Peter Koskey, a junior from Keringet, Kenya, finished first among Oklahoma City, ranked No. 1 in NAIA men’s cross country, with a 17th-place overall showing. Sara Moore, a sophomore from Omagh, Ireland, provided OCU’s 18th-ranked women with a 57th overall placing.
Among the men, Koskey, Mackenzie Wahpehpah-Harris (Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma) and Hunter Swink turned in their finest performances as Stars. OCU had an average time of 25 minutes, 4.76 seconds in the 8,000-meter race.
OCU topped a field that included Iowa Central, ranked third among the NJCAA, and West Texas A&M, ranked 15th in NCAA Division II. The defending NAIA champion Stars have turned in two top finishes along with a runner-up placing this season.
“Overall, great day of racing for both programs,” OCU coach Conor Holt said. “It was a great opportunity to avail of great competition. Now we look forward to three weeks of training and getting in some good quality work.”
Koskey clocked a personal-best 24:34.9, bettering his fastest 8K time from the 2013 Oklahoma Baptist Bison Invitational by 7.1 seconds. David Mountford, a sophomore from Shotton, Wales, completed the race in 24:49.5 to finish 26th.
Wahpehpah-Harris, a sophomore from Norman, Okla., turned in a 25:06.1, good for 44th place, while Arya Bahreini, a junior from Edmond, Okla., finished in 25:20 in 57th for OCU. Kyle Wardwell, a senior from Norman, Okla., ran the race in 25:33.3, and Csaba Matko, a freshman from Budapest, Hungary, contributed a 25:45.
Other Stars’ finishers were Michael Vercoe-Curtis (25:49) and Hunter Swink (27:11.5).
OCU’s next race is the NAIA Mid-States Classic on Oct. 25 in Winfield, Kan.
