ATTENTION SPORTS

ATTENTION SPORTS Contact: Jennifer Novik

Monday, November 20, 2000 201-692-2204

FDU’s Ondieki Adds All-American Honors With 2^nd Place Finish
Misses National Title by 1.8 seconds

AMES, IOWA — Fairleigh Dickinson University graduate student Stephen Ondieki (Kericho, Kenya) ran the entire 2000 cross country season undefeated and was expected to be a national contender at the NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championships held today on the campus of Iowa State University. Not only didn’t he disappoint, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Champion led the pack at one point and finished 1.8 seconds away from bringing an individual national title home to Hackensack, New Jersey. He finished the 10,000-meter course in a time of 30:16.3, becoming just the second Knight to earn NCAA Cross Country All-American honors.

Providence’s Keith Kelly, who trailed Ondieki far enough to stay out of his radar, turned up the heat in the last leg of the course and took the lead with 50 meters remaining, to Ondieki’s surprise. Finishing five seconds behind Ondieki was Colorado’s Jorge Torres (30:21.4). Rounding out the top five were 1999 Champion David Kimani from Alabama who finished in fourth (30:21.6) and Franklyn Sanchez from Georgetown (30:26.9) in fifth.

The 2000 NCAA Championship is only the second meet Ondieki has lost in his two years at FDU. His first loss came at the 1999 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional where an injury midway through the race turned his lead into a 26^th place finish. This season he became the fourth athlete in Northeast Conference history to win back-to-back titles, also claiming the Metropolitan Championship title for the second consecutive year. With his name already in the record books, Ondieki now joins an elite group of All-Americans at FDU, which includes the Knights’ only other Cross Country All-American–Solomon Chebor, class of 1982–who finished third at the 1980 Championships.

While Ondieki was preparing for nationals, his teammates competed at the IC4A Championships, held in Van Cortlandt Park this past weekend. Erick Too (Eldoret, Kenya), Aidan Walsh (Dublin, Ireland) and Alfred Korir (Kericho, Kenya) earned All-East accolades for their 15^th, 17^th and 23^rd place finishes, respectively.

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