Colby JC's Sanele Masondo Wins Men's Race; Isabel Van Camp Pressed By Former Teammate Lauren Gregory To Lead Women To 10th Straight Chile Pepper Title

By Doug Binder, DyeStat 

Sanele Masondo, a South African running for Colby Community College (Kan.), continued his impressive start to the cross country season by winning the McDonnell Memorial Men's 8K on Friday afternoon at the 34th Chile Pepper XC Festival. 

Masondo took on the challenge of racing Arkansas' Patrick Kiprop, making his Razorbacks debut in cross country. Kiprop, a tranfer last winter from Fresno Pacific, won the Southeastern Conference 5,000-meter title and was runner-up in the 10,000 last spring. 

Kiprop made a move midway through the race but Masondo covered it and sped away late to win by six seconds in 23:18.4. Kiprop was next in 23:24.6 and Lexington Hilton, an Arkansas runner competing unattached, was third in 23:29.7. 

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Arkansas made easy work of the competition and swept the team titles for the first time since 2018.

The men put four in the top 20 and defeated Colby, the top-ranked Junior College team in the U.S., 61-149. Missouri Southern was third with 157 points. 

For the fifth time in a row, a Razorback won the women's 5-kilometer race and this time it was Isabel Van Camp, who completed the course in 15:58.0, barely ahead of Lauren Gregory, a former teammate who was running unattached. Gregory, who is out of collegiate eligibility, was second in 15:58.2.

Van Camp, who was 10th at last week's OSU Cowboy Jamboree, ran up front with Gregory and Irene Rono from Abilene Christian for much of the race. Van Camp and Gregory dropped Rono with an uphill surge past the 3,000-meter mark and ran together to the finish line. 

Gregory appeared to let up in the final strides and Van Camp won it. 

It was Van Camp's second victory at Chile Pepper. She won the high school girls title, running for Keller TX, in 2018. 

She enjoyed her time on the course with Gregory. 

"It's like a give and a take," Van Camp said. "Your energies come together and it's a give and a take. When I need a little extra energy I know that she's there for me and when she needs a little more I'm there for her. It makes it so much more fun and it's one of my favorite parts about racing."

It was the 10th consecutive team win for Arkansas in its home meet, a streak that sends retiring coach Lance Harter out on a winning note. The 27-point team total was aided by freshman Sydney Thorvaldson's fourth-place finish and freshman Mia Cochran's sixth. Sophomore Taylor Ewert was 12th overall and another freshman, Mary Ellen Eudaly, was 14th. 

Southern Mississippi was second with 123 points, followed by Dallas Baptist with 130.

The meet continues with high school racing on Saturday. 

In the Prairie Fire Pepper men's college race, the Drury men won the team title with 71 points and Vincent Nchogu from Texas A&M-Texarkana won it in 24:53.3. 

In the women's Prairie Fire Pepper race, Colby picked up its first win of the day from Emily Diercks, who ran 17:17.1 to reach the finish line 15 seconds in front. In a close team competition Missouri S&T pulled out the victory with 155 points. St. Edward's was next with 160 and Tarleton State (187) and Rogers State (195) were third and fourth.