The Lamar University men used a record setting performance to claim their third straight Southland Conference Cross Country title in dominant fashion at the Piney Woods Country Club on Monday morning in Nacogdoches, Texas.
The Cardinals, who placed four runners in the top 10 and five in the top 12, used the widest margin of victory in SLC history, and claimed their conference record eighth title in with a 29 point total, 58 points ahead of runner up Stephen F. Austin who had 87 points. The previous best margin of victory was set by Lamar in 1982 when the Cardinals won by 53 points over North Texas.
The championship is also the eighth overall SLC title the Lamar men, putting LU ahead of McNeese State and former SLC member Abilene Christian who each have seven titles. The title is the 10th total in program history, eight in the Southland and two in the American South Conference.
Senior Samuel Kosgei led the way for the LU men, claiming the title with an impressive 24:13 performance over the 8,000 meter course. He is the first Lamar runner to claim the SLC individual title in 24 years since Raphael Colemenares claimed the crown in 1984. He is the first LU runner to win a conference championship since Jonas Lundstrom claimed the American South title in 1989.
Kosgei is just the seventh Lamar University men's runner to claim an individual conference title, joining Gerry Garcia, 1970, Mike Plumb, 1982, Pedro Caceres, 1983, Colemenares, 1984, Ian Mullen, 1988 and Lundstrom in 1989.
"I'm glad we won and I thank God for how well we ran today," Kosgei said. "I'm very happy that I won the Southland Conference championship. This is my senior year and I really wanted it. Last year I was injured and I couldn't stay with the top guys, but today everything went good for me."
Junior Francis Kasagule finished in second place for the second straight year, crossing the finish line in a time of 24:31. Junior Hillary Samoei was the third LU runner to finish, crossing the line in sixth place in a time of 25:29, while senior Frank Bwambale rounded out the top 10 finishers with an eighth place in a time of 25:33.
Sophomore Drew Bean finished the scoring for Lamar with a 12th place finish in a time of 25:53.
