Mugun Leads District of Columbia Men's Cross Country to Victory at DSU Hornet Invitational
SMYRNA, DE - Led by senior Hillary Mugun's first-place overall finish, the University of the District of Columbia men's cross country team took first place at the Delaware State Hornet Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
As the only Division II team at the meet, the Firebirds finished as a group in 2:31:12 for a score of 52, outpacing second-place Morgan State (55) by 2:41 for the first team victory under second-year head coach Alton McKenzie. According to McKenzie, this was a great turnaround after the team did not have five runners finish last week at George Mason.
"After a tough outing last week, the men showed a lot of heart to regroup and run exceptionally well as a unit to earn a team victory," McKenzie said. "As impressive as Hillary's dominating performance was, what most impressed me was the team effort exhibited to come out on top."
Mugun (Accounting - Nandi Hills, Kenya/Meteitei), finished the 8K course in 26:26 to finish first overall, one minute faster then any other competitor. Next for the Firebirds was senior Zephaniah Koech (Accounting - Nandi Hills, Kenya/Terige), finishing in fourth in a time of 28:29.
Third and fourth in for the Firebirds were freshmen Baldin Needham (Sociology - Browns Town, Jamaica/St. Jago HS) at 29:00, and freshman Najee Anderson (Criminal justice- Bowie, MD/Charles Flowers HS) at 32:42 for 6th and 17th place, respectively. Finishing fifth, in his first collegiate cross country race, was sophomore Florent Pontens (Business Management - Tarbes, France/Cheshire Academy), who finished 25th in a time of 34:33. Sixth for the Firebirds was junior Dorrelle Smith (Criminal Justice- Daytona, FL/Trinity Christian Academy), who finished in a time of 36:02 to place 29th overall.
Zephaniah ran a great race for 4th and worked with Baldin who ended up 6th. But without contributions from Najee, Florent (especially, in his first meet) and Dorrelle we couldn't have come away with the team win. We competed aggressively as a team, and I know this will be a great confidence booster as we head into the ECC Championships in two weeks."
The Firebirds also took part in a duel meet against the host, Delaware State. Securing the first three places, District of Columbia was able to come out on top by a decisive 11-point margin (22-33). The Firebirds' top-five runners in placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 9th.
The Firebirds have two weeks to rest as they gear up for the ECC Championships on October 21st in Brookville, NY. Mugun, the ECC preseason runner of the year, will look to be the first Firebird individual conference champion and help District of Columbia improve on its sixth place finish a year ago.