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CANYON -- The ACU Wildcats entered Saturday's Lone Star Conference cross country championship meet with several question swirling around the men's team.
Most of them centered around whether or not the Wildcats would be able to hold off a stiff challenge from Tarleton State and win their 19th straight men's championship.
The Wildcats gave a resounding answer to all the questions Saturday morning as they cruised to their 19th straight conference championship, scoring 33 points to easily outdistance runner-up Tarleton State, which finished second with 75 points.
ACU's men entered the meet having dropped to 18th in the nation and fourth in the region, while Tarleton entered the meet ranked 17th in the nation and third in the region. The Texans also had momentum from a team win over ACU two weeks ago at the Naimadu Pre-Regional Invitational in Abilene.
But the Wildcats would not be denied as second-year head coach Sam Burroughs saw his team put together a complete performance for the first time this season.
Amos Sang won the individual championship -- giving the Wildcats the individual winner for the 19th straight year -- with Cleophas Tanui finishing second and Colby Delbene finishing fifth. Sang covered the 8-kilometer course in 24:44.0 with Tanui finishing in 25:21.0. Delbene -- a promising freshman for the Wildcats -- was fifth in 26:04.0.
Tarleton State's Jared McNeil -- one of the pre-race favorites -- was ninth in 26:21.0, but he wasn't the top finisher on his team as Gerzain Valenzuela finished fourth in 26:00.0.
ACU's other two finishers were Daniel Maina in 12th (26:41.0) and Spencer Lynn in 26:46.0. Jacob Schofield was 34th in 27:45.0, while Will Pike was 36th in 27:51.0.
"It's good to get the championship season off to a good start, and I'm proud we were able to extend the longest winning streak at the NCAA Division II conference level another year," Burroughs said. "We've got some loose ends we need to shore up before the regional meet (Nov. 7 in Abilene), but I feel really good about where we are going into that meet."
ACU will serve as the host for the NCAA Division II South Central Region championship meet, which will be run Saturday, Nov. 7, at Nelson Park in Abilene.
On the women's side Saturday, Midwestern State won its second straight team championship, scoring 70 points to edge out runner-up Angelo State, which finished with 73 points. ACU's long season continued with an eighth-place finish as the Wildcats scored 193 points.
ACU's
Chloe Susset finished sixth, covering the 6-kilometer course in 24:12.2, earning all-conference honors.
