The Miners traveled Nov. 12 to Provo, Utah for the NCAA Mountain Regional in the team's final attempt to qualify for the NCAA Championsips. However, only one individual from each team qualified for the championships that will take place Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind.
The men had the opportunity to qualify as a team but could not get that fifth runner to make the cut. Because of that, only one athlete was taken as an at-large for the championships. Junior Elkana Rotich will be representing the men's team after finishing 14th in the 10k run and posting a time of 31:03. The 2011 Conference-USA champion and junior Justice Chirchir followed him closely by coming in 20th with a time of 31:12. The team finished in11th place with a score of 232 and a 1:48.8 spread. They have yet to qualify together since their 2007 meet Nov. 17 in Ogden, Utah, where they placed 10th overall in the race.
This will be Rotich's second time at the championship. The first was in 2009 when he placed 102nd with a time of 24:42 his freshman year. Earlier this season, Rotich placed first in the Kachina Classic Sept. 17 and a second-place finish at the C-USA Championships. So far, his best time of 21:42 was clocked in at the 7k run on Sept. 10 at the Lori Fitzgerald.
In 2009, Rotich joined the women's team after they qualified together for the first time since 1987, when they finished fifth for the overall championship.
Junior Risper Kimaiyo will head to the championships for the third time in her career. This season, she became the first woman to claim the title at the Mountain Regionals twice in program history. The first time Kimaiyo qualified was last year when she clocked in at 20:02 Nov.13 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kimaiyo qualified for this year's meet with a first place finish at a time of 20:35.
The women's team finished the meet with 367 points and took 14th place. Junior Karin Garcia was the second Miner across the finish line, grabbing the 57th spot with a time of 22:43. Senior Kitria Stewart finished the 6k run at 24:34. UTEP gained a spread of 3:59.6 for the overall meet with all five runners finishing.
Last season, Kimaiyo finished fourth in the 2010 NCAA Championships, which was her second consecutive top-10 finish. She was awarded her second cross-country All-American honor of her career.
Junior Kathy Garcia, who did not make it into this year's championships, also competed at the 2010 championship and took the 127th placing, improving her time to 21:32 from the previous season of 21:35 during the meet.
Krystal Oblinger may be reached at prospector@utep.edu
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