Terre Haute, Indiana, USA - Sally Kipyego (KEN) became only the fourth athlete (and the first woman) to win three NCAA Cross Country titles at this year’s edition of the championships which were held on Monday (24) in Terre Haute.

Kipyego, running for Texas Tech University, called the win "the hardest" of her three. The University of Washington won the women's team title. Galen Rupp, a U.S. Olympian in 2008, won the men's race for the team champions, the University of Oregon.

WOMEN

Kipyego, who won her 2006 and 2007 titles on this course by large margins, found the third win more challenging, as Florida State's Susan Kuijken (NED) matched strides with Kipyego for over half of the 6km course. Even after Kipyego broke away from Kuijken, "I kept trying to keep my distance," said Kipyego. "She's a great athlete, and I knew she might be coming back."

After passing the 2km checkpoint together, Kipyego gained three seconds on Kuijken before 4km and could only expand that lead to six seconds by the finish, with Kipyego arriving at 19:28 and Kuijken at 19:34.

"Susan made me run hard," Kipyego said. "I tried to stay positive and remember that no matter what, I would run my hardest and run my own race." Kipyego's time chipped two seconds off her 2007 winning time, the fastest on Terre Haute's purpose-built course since the 6km route was changed several years ago.

Kipyego has one season of indoor track eligibility remaining in the NCAA, and despite her profession of preferring nursing school to running last year, she now hopes to try a professional running career after graduating from Texas Tech.

"It's a blessing to be able to win even one title," she said of joining names like Henry Rono, Steve Prefontaine and Gerry Lindgren as a three-time winner. "You don't get to do that each and every day."

Kuijken declared herself satisfied with her efforts. "Obviously I wish I could have won, but it's a big improvement over last year," she explained. Kuijken has another year remaining in the NCAA and will likely be a favorite for next year's championship, also slated for Terre Haute.

Third place went to Virginia Tech senior Tasmin Fanning in 19:37.

MEN

Rupp, who came out on the losing side of a 2007 duel to the closing metres with Liberty University's Josh McDougal, learned from that experience and kicked away from another Liberty runner, this year Kenyan Samuel Chelanga.

Chelanga, who was McDougal's training partner in 2007 as he waited out a season of ineligibility (due to his transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey), bolted to an early lead on the opening stretch, an almost kilometre-long straightaway. That strategy, perhaps intended to bury Rupp early, fizzled as Rupp used the rolling back side of the Terre Haute course to slowly close Chelanga's lead.

Chelanga, however, had more than one plan for the race, and when Rupp refused to be buried, Chelanga continued unfazed.

With the two well-established in front, they sparred through the middle section of the race. When Chelanga began testing Rupp's speed in the closing two kilometres of the 10km course, he found Rupp well able to respond to his surges but unwilling to take the lead.

"I learned from last year," Rupp explained later. "I knew he wasn't going to break, and that I had to gather myself as much as possible for the final sprint. Also, it's windy out here, and I wanted him to block the wind as much as possible."

Rupp pulled away in sight of the finish line to seal the win in 29:03 to Chelanga's 29:08. Andrew Ledwith (IRL) of Iona College was third in 29:25, breaking away from a sizable chase pack for the honours.

"I didn't let myself get too low last year, and I won't let myself get to high this year," said Rupp about the victory, the first by an Oregon individual since his coach, Alberto Salazar, in 1978; Prefontaine was the only other Oregon champion. "It's more important to me that we were able to come back and defend as a team."

Team results

Rupp's finish was followed up by two more Oregon runners in the top ten, and with two more runners in the first sixty, Oregon added up a 54 point victory over Iona, 93 to 147. Stanford, with 227 points, was a distant third.

Notable among Rupp's teammates was first-year Luke Puskedra, 5th overall. Puskedra was just two places ahead of another first-year, Chris Derrick of Stanford, and German Fernandez of Oklahoma State was considered their peer before dropping out due to an injury suffered on the course. The three represent one of the strongest first-year classes in recent memory, and since American first-year collegians are often still eligible for Junior competition, may add up to a strong U.S. junior team at next year's World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan (28 March 2009).

The University of Washington women completed the Northwest team-title sweep without the flash of an individual contender, as first-years Christine Babcock and Kendra Schaaf (CAN) finished 7th and 12th (scoring 5 and 9 points after non-team individuals were removed from the scoring). Washington's last scorer was 34th overall, and the team, ranked first for most of the season, scored 79 points for a convincing victory over Oregon's women (131). Buoyed by Kuijken, Florida State University took third with 163.

Washington Coach Greg Metcalf and his assistant, international steeplechaser Kelly Strong, said their success was due to their runners "doing what they do every day" and not being rattled by the size of the nationals field. "I tell them for every workout, 'Bring your hard hat, bring your lunch pail,'" related Metcalf before the race to emphasize the day-in, day-out focus of his team.

Parker Morse for the IAAF