ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's and women's cross country teams will proudly welcome a host of runners from across the region Saturday for the third-annual Naimadu Classic.
The meet is named for former ACU great Nicodemus Naimadu, who is the only athlete in NCAA history – regardless of gender or NCAA division – to have won four straight individual cross country championships (2004-07). Naimadu led the Wildcats to consecutive NCAA Division II national titles in 2006 and 2007.
A full morning of racing begins at 8:30 a.m. with the collegiate men's 8K and concludes at noon with a one mile fun run for junior high boys and girls. In between there will be a collegiate women and varsity (HS) boys 5K, a two-mile run for varsity (HS) girls and junior varsity boys, and a 1.5-mile run for junior varsity girls.
“I'm excited to provide such a large number of youth runners (150+) the opportunity to compete here on a fun and challenging course,” ACU head cross country coach Chris Woods said. “I'm also anxious to get the 8K out of the way for our freshmen before we get to Oklahoma State in two weeks, and to see our lone senior Jake (Schofield) run one final time on our home course.”
All races will take place at Abilene's Sherrod Residential Park located along E.N. 10th street in between Cedar Crest Drive and Almond Street. The viewer-friendly course is 85 percent visible to spectators, and includes two climbs plus several barriers stationed along the 1/8th-mile wooded trail.
Last year's 8K collegiate men's race was won by Tarleton State's Westyn Rosiles in 25:05.39, and ACU's Anais Belledant was first in the women's 3.75-mile run, covering the course in 21:51.98. Junior Chloe Susset (2nd, 22:21.27) and sophomore Will Pike (4th, 26:18.47) are the top returning Wildcats from the 2010 classic.
The Naimadu Classic is ACU's first meet in more than two weeks when both squads competed at Baylor on Sept. 1. At the season opener, junior Alyse Goldsmith was the Wildcats' top runner, finishing the 4K course with an 11th-place time of 14:53.5, while Susset cracked the top-20 with her 18th-place mark of 15:07.9.
The ACU men placed three runners in the top 25 and four in the top 30 led by Pike who completed the 6K in 19:46.1.
“Practices have gone pretty well as of late,” said Woods. “We just have to keep working hard to get where we need to be, and if we continue to progress then we should be in decent shape by the conference meet.”
