TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, October 16 — Silas Kiptanui won over a boatload of fans last June in the NCAA steeple final, rambling to a runner-up finish behind Geoffrey Kirwa with his backward Tulane baseball cap and crowd-infusing energy.
At Friday’s Pre-Nats Men’s race at LaVern Gibson, he wore no cap but the same enthusiasm was present as he crossed in 23:17.4. His long kick held off ferocious closes from Wichita State’s Elkana Kipruto and Nicholas Kipchirchir.
For a long time, Kiptanui’s teammate, Bernard Cheruiyot, who in late September won the Loyola Lakefront race where Kiptanui was only 7th, looked like the Green Waver angling for the win. Cheruiyot and Notre Dame’s Daelen Ackley were nearly always fronting an unwieldy lead pack that never really separated.
Toledo’s Joad Martinho (9th) briefly bid for the lead around 6K, only to quickly pull back. Cheruiyot then slowly started trying to take control over the next K, but with 700 to go, his teammate tried to blow it open for good with a long kick.
With 300 to go, Ackley led the Shocker duo past Cheruiyot, then surrendered to the Kenyans himself as they desperately tried to reel in Kiptanui. They were closing hard on him in the final 150, but the Green Wave soph prevailed by 1.4 seconds.
In the team battle, after 21 of the top 30 NCAA men’s teams competed at Nuttycombe a week earlier, just 5 ranked squads lined up at LaVern Gibson for Pre-Nats, led by No. 8 Syracuse.
The Orangemen had no one in the top 14; in fact, 10 of the top 11 teams had lower sticks at the finish. But the quartet of Connor Ackley, Benne Anderson, Ben Gabelman and Louis Small, taking 15-16-18-22 and crossing within 10 seconds, made the difference in a 115-127 victory over No. 14 Villanova, with No. 15 Notre Dame not far back in 3rd at 148.
PRE-NATIONALS MEN’S RESULTS
Teams: 1. Syracuse 115; 2. Villanova 127; 3. Notre Dame 148; 4. Wichita State 212; 5. North Carolina 243; 6. Arizona 244; 7. Cornell 246; 8. Toledo 277; 9. Duke 294; 10. Cal Baptist 298.
Individuals (8K): 1. **Silas Kiptanui’ (Tul-Ken) 23:17.4; 2. *Elkana Kipruto’ (Wich-Ken) 23:18.8; 3. Nicholas Kipchirchir’ (Wich-Ken) 23:19.8; 4. Daelen Ackley (NDm) 23:20.5; 5. Edward Bird’ (Ky-GB) 23:21.0; 6. *Bailey Habler’ (Vill-Aus) 23:23.4; 7. *Bernard Cheruiyot’ (Tul-Ken) 23:24.9; 8. *Pedro Marin’ (CalB-Col) 23:25.0; 9. Joad Martinho’ (Tol-Fra) 23:25.6; 10. Pierre Attiogbe (Corn) 23:25.9;
11. **Evans Tanui’ (Az-Ken) 23:26.0; 12. Finlay Ross-Davie’ (Duke-GB) 23:26.1; 13. ***Eloshas Kipkirui’ (Tol-Ken) 23:26.6; 14. **Cameron Todd (NDm) 23:28.0; 15. *Connor Ackley (Syr) 23:30.5; 16. *Benne Anderson’ (Syr-Ger) 23:32.3; 17. ***Stephen Maroro’ (Ks-Ken) 23:34.2; 18. **Ben Gabelman (Syr) 23:34.3; 19. ***Caden Leonard (NC) 23:34.9; 20. **Vincent Gwachi’ (Az-Ken) 23:37.4; 21. *Patrick Kiprop’ (Tol-Ken) 23:39.2; 22. Louis Small’ (Syr-GB) 23:39.9; 23. Aryan Abbaraju (Corn) 23:41.0; 24. **Yemane Mulugeta’ (CalB-Can) 23:41.4; 25. **Charlie Moore’ (Vill-Aus) 23:42.6.
