TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The combination of cold weather and rolling hills were too much for Mark Korir to overcome and become the first three-time All-American in University of Wyoming cross country history Monday at the NCAA Championships.
Battling back problems, Korir finished 71st in a time of 30 minutes, 38 seconds.
At the second mile of the 6.2 mile (10k) course, Korir was cruising along with the lead group. When they entered a decline at the Indiana State University course Korir’s back started to tighten up on him. That’s when the lead pack began to pull away from not only Korir but the rest of the field.
It was a two-man race from the get-go with sophomore Samuel Chelanga from Liberty and senior Galen Rupp from the University of Oregon. Chelanga sprinted out from the start and Rupp had to play catch up, he caught him about half way through the race and ran with him the rest of the way. Neither of them made their move to pull away until the last 400 meters. They came down the home stretch and that’s when Rupp led for the first time in the 10k race. He crossed the line with a time of 29:03, five seconds in front of Chelanga.
“Mark has had an incredible career here at UW and he will be sorely missed on the cross country course,” said head coach Randy Cole. “It just wasn’t his day with his back locking up on him, but he still gave everything he had and I am very proud of him for that.
“There are some great runners here and unfortunately Mark was unable to keep up with them. He will have some time to recover before the start of the indoor track and field season and I expect him to be full strength and continue to reek havoc on the conference soon.
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