MOUNT PLEASANT – Sammy Kiprotich paced the Central Michigan men’s cross country team at the Jeff Drenth Memorial 5K at University Park on Friday. The sophomore finished less than three and a half seconds off the lead pace, finishing third with a time of 15:37 at the season opener for both CMU and Michigan State.
“Kiprotich had a great day,” assistant coach
Matt Kaczor said. “He didn’t get off to a great start, but he was actually faster in his final two miles than he was in his first, so we know he’s going in the right direction.”
Juniors
Riak Mabil (12th, 16:07),
Jacob Korir (15th, 16:13), freshman Matt Lutzke (16th, 16:16), and junior
Chris Pankow (20th, 16:37) finished in the top-20 in Central’s only home meet of the season. The meet was non-scoring.
“This gives us something to work off of and see where we are at to start the season,” Kaczor said. “We still need a lot of strength work.”
Michigan State’s Shane Knoll won the race with time of 15:33.
CMU returns to the course next Friday in West LaFayette to run in the Great American Legends Race.
Courtesy: Robert Barclay/CMU
