Oct. 3, 2008

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Paced by Samuel Kosgei's first place finish, the Lamar University men's cross country team ran to a 12th place finish at the Dame Invitational held at the nine-hole Notre Dame Golf Course on the Notre Dame campus on Friday afternoon.

Kosgei captured the title by covering the five mile course in a time of 23:32, edging out Texas A&M's Shadrack Songok by one second. The top five finishers in the race all finished within five seconds of each other in one second intervals.

"Winning the Notre Dame Invitational is a great accomplishment for Sammy," cross country coach Sita Waru-Ewell said. "He put himself in a position to win the race with 250 meters to go, and won a foot race to the line to capture the title. This is a great win for him individually."

Francis Kasagule also registered a top 10 finish, crossing the finish line on ninth place in a time of 23:45. Drew Bean was the third Cardinals runner to cross the line, covering the course in 25 minutes for a 90th place finish, Hillary Samoei finished in 132nd place in a time of 25:27 and Frank Bwambale rounded out the top five for LU in a time of 25:32 and a 140th place finish.

Randy Becker, Spencer Prudhomme and Jared Rodriguez also took the course for Lamar, placing 163rd, 200th and 201st. Becker covered the course in a time of 25:59, Prudhomme posted a time of 27:16 and Rodriguez ran a 27:32.

"The 12th place finish is a very solid finish for us," Waru-Ewell said. "Our top two runners did a great job getting into the top 10 and the rest of our lineup had a strong performance. I think we still have room for improvement, but this was a great day for us."

The Lamar cross country teams will be back in action on Oct. 18 when the run at the Chili Pepper Invitation in Fayetteville, Ark.