Olympians Win Cross County National Championships At Mission Bay

SAN DIEGO, CA — Olympians Alicia Monson and Shadrack Kipchirchir were the women's and men's winners at the USATF Cross Country Championships Saturday at Mission Bay Park.

Monson won the 10K women's race in 34 minutes, one second, 17 seconds ahead of runner-up Weini Kelati, the 2019 NCAA outdoor 10,000 meters and cross- country champion. Emily Infeld, a 2016 Olympian in the 10,000 meters and 2018 UTATF cross-country national champion, was third, in 34:36.

Monson was part of the five-runner tight lead pack after the first 2- kilometer loop, that also included Kelati and Infeld. Defending champion Natosha Rogers drifted back in the second lap. Infeld and Emily Durgin both fell off the lead group in the third lap of the five-lap race.

Monson opened up a four-second lead on Kelati at about 6.5 kilometers. The former Wisconsin standout who now trains in Boulder, Colo., increased her lead to 14 seconds at the 8K mark and was never challenged in the final lap en route to her first national championship and first victory as a professional.

Durgin was fourth in 34:50, the same time as fifth-place finisher Stephanie Bruce. Molly Seidel, the 2021 women's Olympic marathon bronze medalist, was eighth in 35:58.

Before the race, Seidel told the subscription streaming service USATF.TV+ she was coming off of a holiday break in which she mostly ran on snow in her home state of Wisconsin and was in San Diego to get a competitive jolt to start her 2022 season.

Kipchirchir, a 2016 Olympian in the 10,000 meters who missed the 2021 Olympic trials because of an injury, was part of the five-runner group pack in the 10K men's race that stayed together through the third and fourth laps. Dillon Maggard took the lead on the final lap with Sam Chelanga close behind.

Kipchirchir moved onto Chelanga's heels, while Leonard Korir, also a 2016 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, tried to stay close. Chelanga made the next surge about a minute and a half later, whittling the pack to three.

Kipchirchir shot to the front rounding the final left hand turn and held off Maggard to win in 30:32. Maggard was second in 30:34, the same time as Chelanga, the third-place finisher. Korir was fourth in 30:37.

Monson and Kipchirchir both received $2,000 for their victories.

The women's under-20 6K race was won by Zariel Macchia, a ninth grader at William Floyd High School, in Mastic Beach, New York, in 22:50, 49 seconds ahead of Colleen Stegmann, a freshman at Oklahoma State.

The men's under-20 8K race was won by Oklahoma State freshman Gabe Simonsen in 25:42. Utah State freshman Chase Leach was second in 25:50.

Renee Metivier of Bend, Oregon won the 6K race for women 40 and older in 21:50. Hilary Corno of Encinitas was second in 23:36.

Sergio Reyes of Palmdale won the 8K race for men 40 and older in 26:37. Roosevelt Cook, a resident of the Mojave Desert community of Oak Hills, finished second in 27:31.

Metivier and Reyes both received $1,000 for their victories.

The races were run on an European-style 2,000-meter grass loop running along East Mission Bay Park. The terrain during the first 1,000 meters of the loop is primarily flat and very fast. During the second 1,000 meters of the loop the course includes a series of five small hills.

The average width of the course is 10 meters and there were a few sections where the course briefly narrowed to about 5 meters in width. The course was also used for the 2008, 2011 and 2020 USATF Cross Country Championships.

—City News Service