NIACC's Khat sets 8K school record at Chile Pepper

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - NIACC sophomore Wal Khat placed 22nd in the Division II race at the University of Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival Saturday and set the school's 8-kilometer school record in 24 minutes, 49 seconds.

Khat broke the school record held by Imad Amenzou, who set the old mark of 25:12 at last season's Chile Pepper Festival.

No. 10 (NJCAA Division I) NIACC placed 14th out of 44 teams in the Division II race with 476 points. Colorado School of Mines was the team champion with 62 points and Iowa Central was fourth with 117 points.

Also for the Trojans on Saturday, Zach Freund was 80th in 26:10, Jose Aguilera was 114th in 26:40, Colby Kraninger was 120th in 26:43, Blake Keller was 140th in 27:02, John Kraft was 180th in 27:41, Samuel Dean was 188th in 27:50 and Canyon Kuhlmann was 214th in 28:18.

In the women's Division II race, NIACC was 33rd with 954 points. CSU-Pueblo was the team champion with 80 points and Iowa Central was fifth with 165 points.

Sophomore Kendra Schmidt led NIACC with a 145th place finish in a time of 20:17 in the 5K race.

Also for the Lady Trojans, Amy Fullerton was 166th in 20:35, Cassandra Bonsall was 193rd in 21:33, Guadalupe Diaz was 224th in 22:51, Morgan Graham was 226th in 22:58 and Michaela Foster was 227th in 23:07.