Virginia State Captures 2021 CIAA Men’s Cross Country Title
SALEM, VA – Three runners placed in the top 10 individually to lead Virginia State to its third men’s 8K title in four seasons at the CIAA Cross Country Championships held at Green Hill Park on Thursday, Oct. 28.
Individually, Mathew Kiptum of Shaw captured the men’s crown in 27:07.8 to give the Bears a sweep of the men’s and women’s individual champions at the meet. Michelle Blaha of Shaw earlier won the women’s 5K title.
During the awards ceremony, Eric Thomas-Talley of Bowie State was named CIAA Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year as voted by the CIAA cross country head coaches and sports information directors. Wilbert Johnson of Virginia State was named CIAA Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year.
In the team race, Jalen Brownlee was third, Elijah Johnson placed fourth and Darrell Dyson finished 10th for the champion Trojans, who scored 47 points to run away with the CIAA title. Bryce Jordan (14th) and Patrick Lewis (16th) rounded out the VSU scoring.
In addition to the top VSU scorers, Dacarai Clark finished 17th and Gabriel Milles was 23rd for the Trojans, who scored 47 points to run away with the team title.
Bowie State was the CIAA runner-up with 74 points and Shaw finished third with 81 points. Livingstone was fourth with 89 points followed by Virginia Union (91), Fayetteville State (182), Claflin (203), Elizabeth City State (209), Lincoln (222) and Johnson C. Smith (222).
The All-CIAA men’s team consisted of the top 15 finishers. They were Kiptum of Shaw, Micah Kipruto of Virginia Union (second), Brownlee of Virginia State, Johnson of Virginia State, Shane Massey of Bowie State (fifth), Akel Swinton of Virginia Union (sixth), Fredrick Eiland II of Bowie State (seventh), Thomas-Talley of Bowie State (eighth), Torotich Kiplagat of Shaw (ninth), Dyson of Virginia State, Jacob Adkins of Livingstone (11th), Charles Pumbu of Fayetteville State (12th), Curtxavier Fryson of Livingstone (13th), Jordan of Virginia State and Willie Hinton of Virginia Union (15th).
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