Against near 90-degree temperature early Saturday morning at Carbon Canyon Regional Park, Rono jetted away from the 200-man pack to open the Cal State Fullerton “Season Opener”, and as he pulled out someone from within the crowd quietly said, “That man is a machine.”
Indeed he is.
In the opening meet of the new season, Rono broke his own course record by 6 seconds, clocking a 24:42 to win the “Season Opener.” Rono appeared to be in mid-season fitness as he ran alone for nearly the entire 8K race, eventually winning by 48 seconds over his nearest competitor. The heat seemingly had no affect on the junior from Kenya, who won his sixth race in his 7-race Azusa Pacific career.
“I really felt good today,” said Rono. “I came in stronger at the end than I would have expected to. I knew I was in better shape to start this season than last year, but still.”
Rono’s effort led a Cougar contingent that finished fourth in the 16-team field. Pacers Track Club won the men’s team race with 34 point, while the NAIA’s No. 10-ranked Concordia finished second with 67, followed by NCAA Division I Cal State Fullerton with 88 points. The Cougars tallied 106.
“Aron was great,” said third-year Cougar coach Preston Grey. “He did his thing, and overall it was a solid team performance. The rest of the pack was not as high as I would have hoped for, but there are no worries at all. We’ll come around.”
Junior John Pfeil posted a 27-second course PR and was the Cougars’ No. 2 runner, finishing 16th with a 26:58, an excellent early-season showing for a runner hoping to emerge as one of the Cougars’ primary runners this season.
Freshman Rocky Richardson finished 22nd with a 27:05 in his first-ever collegiate competition.
Veterans Caleb Mesa and Caleb Lynch endured sub-par performances in the wilting heat of the morning. Mesa was 46th with a 28:02, and Lynch finished 67th with a 28:33. For Mesa, it was the slowest race time of his 7-meet Azusa Pacific career.
“That’s a nice debut for Rocky,” Grey added, “and Mesa will come around when he gets his legs under him. He is healthy now, but he wasn’t able to train much this summer because of injury.”
The NAIA’s No. 6-ranked Cougar women’s squad was impressive in its first meet of the season, finishing third in the invitational race behind meet host Cal State Fullerton which won with 51 points, and NCAA Division II power Cal State L.A. which tallied 78 points. The Cougars registered 95 points.
All-American junior Jaime Canterbury put on a strong show with a career-best effort, clocking an 18:10 to finish second out of 136 runners. Canterbury overtook Cal State L.A.’s Maribel Cespedes over the final 100 meter to put the finishing touches on her highest finish ever.
“I’m really encouraged,” said Canterbury, who was 48 seconds faster on this course today than she was at this time last year. “I’m taking steps in the right direction. The team had a good summer of training, and it paid off today.”
“Not bad for being tired and not having pop in her legs,” said Grey when evaluating Canterbury’s effort which was the best season-opening time for a Cougar in at least 6 years.
While Canterbury was running in the front pack, she wasn’t necessarily fighting the crowd, but rather was getting support from freshman teammate Jackline Kipwambok, who was quite impressive in her collegiate debut, running an 18:23 to finish fourth.
“I was pleasantly surprised to have Jackie with me,” said Canterbury.
Kipwambok, a transfer from Cowley Community College in Kansas, arrived with impressive credentials but an injury late in the track season shut her down all summer and limited her training to just 2 workouts earlier this week. Very little was expected of Kipwambok until later in the season when she becomes more fit in her running.
“We knew Jackie was monstrously talented,” said Grey, “we just weren’t expecting her to show it so soon in the season. She is only going to get better, and that sure is exciting to know.”
Junior Becca Reyes, a transfer from Cuesta College, was the Cougars’ No. 3 runner, clocking a 19:28 to finish 32nd, and track All-American Olivia Richert came in 34th with a 19:32. Sophomore Stephanie Godfrey rounded out the Cougars’ scoring 5 with a fine 19:50 in her first-ever cross country meet.
In all, Azusa Pacific had 11 runners finish under 20:54, which a year ago was the time for the fourth Cougar on this course in this meet. As a team, the Cougars collectively ran a 1:34:25 today, a 5-minute improvement over last year’s 1:39:46 in the same meet.
“This performance was better than I thought it would be,” said Grey. “I knew this was a good group of runners, but I wasn’t sure how they would look in the first meet, but the young kids stepped up.”
Azusa Pacific takes next week and then returns to competition Saturday, Sept. 15, when the Cougars compete in the Midwest Open in Kenosha, Wis., on the course of November’s NAIA championship meet. First race is at 12:45 p.m. (CDT).
