Rono readied for NCAA XC Championships

ABILENE -- Sophomore Irene Rono Monday will add her name to the Abilene Cross Country record book as only the program's third NCAA DI Championship participant, joining Alexandria and Michaela Hackett who represented the Wildcats on the sport's biggest stage in 2017 (Louisville).

The biggest difference, however, between that championship and this one, which is being contested at Oklahoma State, is the timing. The Hackett twins ran their race at the traditional end of the season, a week ahead of Thanksgiving, while Rono will run her's between the end of indoors and the start of outdoors due to CoVID-related postponements. Her training schedule also was adversely affected by the unexpected and deadly cold snap that hit all of Texas in mid February.

"Irene is in good shape heading into the championships," said Jelen, "but really we've been preparing her more to have a great outdoor season, primarily in the 10K. I still fully expect her to do well on the NCAA course, but we're going to have fun, and of course plan to have her back there three more times in her collegiate career."

Rono's upcoming outdoor campaign will be her first with the Wildcats. She ran her first races with the team in the fall of 2019, and competed in three additional indoor races during 2020 indoors, including the Southland 3K in which she placed 34th.

Since coming back this fall, Rono has been nothing short of magnificent in winning five of six races between the cross country and indoor seasons. A native of Eldama Ravine, Kenya, Rono won the Naimadu Classic 6K in 21:38.6 and UIW Invitational in 20:33.1 before claiming the program's third individual conference championship since 2015 (20:36.6).

Indoors she won the Texas Tech Corky Classic in 9:55.30 and earned 16 points for the Wildcats during their run to the Southland Conference Indoor Championship. Rono placed third in the 5K with a PR of 16:51.06 and followed that performance with a victory in the 3K (9:45.20).

"Irene grew in her ability at indoors to carry out a race strategy," said Jelen. "During cross country season she'd often be running solo after breaking away, but during indoors she quickly learned how and when to make her moves. I thought she'd be able to pull away at some point in the 5K but her competitors hung on and out kicked her down the stretch, but in the 3K I had her make a strong move mid-race to force the opposition to come back. Irene did a great job staying in control of the 3K."

For winning the Southland Conference XC Championship in February, Rono was one of 38 individuals selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. There were and additional 31 teams selected to participate in each championship as well.

Oklahoma State University will host the championships, at the OSU Cross Country Course located in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The women's race will begin at 11:50 a.m. Central Time, followed by the men's race at 12:40 p.m.

This will be Rono's first career appearance at OSU, which annually hosts the Cowboy Jamboree XC meet. ACU last attended this event as a team in 2016.

"The course is a little different than in year's previous," said Jelen, "but it's still challenging; there's better footing on the hills (no woodchips). We're looking at this race as the opportunity to do something special. We'll take some risks and not be afraid of failure."

There will be no public ticket sales for the event; however, NCAA cross country fans will have the opportunity to watch live coverage of the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on ESPNU or the ESPN App. Live coverage of the NCAA Championships will be available starting at 11:30 a.m.

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