Hawai`i senior
Cheryl Smith finished 15th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on November 19 in Greenville, S.C., to become the first Wahine harrier to earn All-American status.
Smith covered the 6K-distance at the Furman University Cross Country course on the Furman Golf Course in 21:03. The individual winner among the 249 finishers was Arizonas Tara Chaplin who finished in 20:24. Also competing in the womens race were UTEP sophomore
Corine van Beek and SMU freshman
Karin van Rooyen. Van Beek competed the race in 23:32 for 225th place. Van Rooyen did not finish.
Smith won the WAC individual title and was named the WAC Runner of the Year at the WAC Championship on October 27, 2001. She was the first-ever Rainbow Wahine to qualify for the NCAA Championships since the Hawai`i program went under the NCAA umbrella in 1982. Smith qualified with an eighth-place finish at the regional competition in Tucson, Ariz. on Nov. 10.
In the mens division, UTEP junior and WAC Runner of the Year
Bashar Ibrahim did not finish the race. He was running in the 35th spot when he collapsed at the ninth kilometer of the 10K race. Ibrahim began fasting sunup to sundown last Friday with the beginning of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and praying. The winner of the mens race was Boaz Chboiywo of Eastern Michigan with a time of 28:47.
The mens and womens team titles were won by Colorado and Brigham Young, respectively. For complete championship results and information
click here.