Mathenge Prepped for NCAA Championships on Saturday
11/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships
Saturday, November 21
E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park • Louisville, Kentucky
Men’s 10k – 12:00 p.m. CT
Watch Live • Live Results
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin junior Charles Mathenge is set to compete in the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Saturday, November 21st at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mathenge will represent the Lumberjacks in the national field for the second straight year after claiming eighth place at the NCAA South Central Regionals last Friday in College Station. The Ol Kalou, Kenya native is the first student-athlete from the men’s program to qualify for the NCAAs in back-to-back years.
“It’s a big accomplishment for Charles to make nationals two years in a row,” said cross country coach Cody Clark. Making nationals at any level, in any sport is a difficult thing to do. That’s what you train for and that’s where you want to get as a collegiate athlete. It means the world to him and it means the world to me.
“Charles’ work ethic is one of the best I’ve ever seen and he deserves this opportunity. He’s going to try to do better than he did last year, which is very doable. But I really just want him to go out and have fun. There’s no pressure – he just needs to see how fast he can run on Saturday afternoon.”
Mathenge will have his sights set on a top 40 finish out of 255 competitors on Saturday, which would make him an All-American. He’ll also be seeking to give SFA its best individual NCAA performance, chasing Michael Thompson’s 37th place effort back in 2003. No Lumberjack has placed in the top 100 since Thompson and Nathan Flores (76th) accomplished the feat 12 years ago.
The men’s 10,000-meter race will begin at 12:00 p.m. CT on Saturday at a course familiar to the Kenyan. Mathenge and his teammates competed in the NCAA Pre-National Invitational at Tom Sawyer State Park earlier this season on Oct. 17. Mathenge nearly broke his own 8,000m school record at the event with a time of 23:38.2 to take 20th out of 288 runners – many of which he’ll be lining up with again at nationals.
In what has been another sensational season, Mathenge also ran well at Texas A&M to start the year. He broke his own 8k mark with a time of 23:32 in his first race of the season to cross second out of 155. He later helped his team take second at the Southland Conference Championships on Oct. 30 with runner-up individual honors and First Team All-SLC recognition.
Last Friday, Mathenge secured his place on collegiate cross country’s biggest stage by finishing eighth of 162 runners at the regional meet. In what was his only 10k race of the year, he posted a time of 30:16.4 – just seconds off his school record pace of 29:58 set last year at the regional meet. With 10k being his preferred distance, Mathenge will attack that school record time again this weekend.
Fans can watch all of Saturday’s championship action live on NCAA.com or follow live results through the links provided above. For more updates on Mathenge and the SFA cross country teams, follow the team on Twitter (@SFA_TFXC).
SFA Men All-Time NCAA Qualifiers/Results
1988 – Michael Brady (116th)
2003 – Michael Thompson (37th)
2003 – Nathan Flores (76th)
2004 – Julian Acuan (152nd)
2012 – Xavier Rodriguez (119th)
2014 – Charles Mathenge (235th)
2015 – Charles Mathenge (TBD)
*Results since SFA joined the Southland Conference in 1987
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