‘Jacks Show Out in NWA with Strong Efforts at Chile Pepper

Saturday, October 4

Fayetteville, AR

10:25 A.M.

Stephen F. Austin

Chile Pepper Invitational

SFA Women at Lumberjack Invitational (8-29-25).png

‘Jacks Show Out in NWA with Strong Efforts at Chile Pepper

10/4/2025 12:22:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Men's 8K Results Women's 5K Results

SFA Women run to third place finish behind Jemutai's program record time & pair of top 7 finishes, SFA Men place fourth in 30-team field with three top 20 placements

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – SFA Cross Country head coach Rob Hansen was confident that his teams would rise to the occasion on Saturday morning at the 37^th running of the renowned Chile Pepper Festival in Northwest Arkansas and both Lumberjack squads answered the call as each delivered their program's best-ever placement at the event. The SFA Men, off at 10:25 a.m., raced to a fourth-place team finish in the 30-team McDonnell Memorial field powered by a trio of top 20 8K efforts, while the SFA Women, off at 11 a.m., ran to a third-place team finish in the Harter Habanero as a pair of 'Jacks joined the top 10 placements.

The Lumberjack Men topped a pair of South-Central region foes in #14 Abilene Christian (6^th, 250) and #12 UT-Arlington (9^th, 277) and placed behind #2 Arkansas and #5 Texas in a fourth place showing that saw three 'Jacks log impressive top 20 finishes. SFA also finished in front of Oral Roberts (5^th, 241), Tarleton State (11^th, 295), North Texas (12^th, 381), Lamar (16^th, 417) and East Texas A&M (20^th, 549).

Riley Elliott led the 'Jacks with an 8K effort of 24:14.7 to log a 13^th place finish. Nathan Kapel finished eight seconds back of Elliot with a 16^th place time of 24:22.5. Ryan Binskin rounded out the top 20 trio for SFA with an 18^th place finish in 24:28.5. Lathan Lewter and Paul Kiprotich each crossed in under 25 minutes as Lewter finished inside the field's top 35 at 33^rd behind a finish of 24:50.7, while Kiprotich posted a time of 24:55.4 to place 40^th. Zach McPhee was the 50^th runner to finish (25:04.5) and Wyatt Hoover concluded in 56^th (25:08.6).

The Lumberjack Women flew to a third-place finish behind Power 4 regional foes #4 Texas (1^st, 54) and #2 Arkansas (2^nd, 106). SFA topped #7 Rice (4^th, 113) by three points and #14 UT-Arlington (6^th, 229) by more than 115 points. The 'Jacks also beat out fellow Lone Star State programs Tarleton State (14^th, 446), North Texas (16^th, 477), Abilene Christian (18^th, 499), Lamar (24^th, 650)

Valentine Jemutai paced the 'Jacks for the third-straight meet with a sixth place and personal best 5K finish of 16:26.7, while Mercy Kipchumba was just three seconds back in seventh place at 16:29.5. Jemutai's effort places her atop the program's all-time list for 5K times. Sharon Omwoyo was the next to cross for SFA as she earned a 25^th placement in the 269-runner field with a time of 17:25.0. Two more 'Jacks posted sub-17:50 minute times as Trude Lamb concluded in the field's top 35 with a 32^ndplace time and personal best effort of 17:29.1, while Garance Dubray was just outside the top 50 in 53^rd with a finish of 17:46.4. Keara Zver landed inside the top 100 in her first Chile Pepper run with a 97^th time of 18:24.7. Graycee Wilson rounded out the top seven for the SFA Women with a 19:03.4 finish to place 139^th; better than nearly half the field and 35 seconds better than her previous best 5K time.

UP NEXT
The 'Jacks make the short trip over to College Station for the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M on October 17. The Friday run will serve as the final regular season meet of the campaign as the Southland Conference championships loom on Halloween morning. Live results for all the action in C-Stat will be made available at www.sfajacks.com.

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