Nov. 20, 2006

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - BYU Josh Rohatinsky pulled away from Stanford's Nef Araia to win the men's race, and Colorado upset top-ranked Wisconsin to take the team title Monday in the NCAA cross country championships.

Texas Tech sophomore Sally Kipyego, a 20-year-old Kenyan, was a runaway women's champion. She ran the soggy 6,000-meter course in 20 minutes, 11.1 seconds and finished 26 seconds ahead of Jenny Barringer of Colorado.

Stanford repeated as women's champion, topping runner-up Colorado.

In the men's race, as many as 13 runners were within a second of each other at 5,000 meters.

Rohatinsky and Araia separated from that group with 2,000 meters left. Rohatinsky surged again less than 600 meters from the finish and was timed in 30:44.9. It was the slowest winning 10,000-meter time ever in this championship, reflecting the difficulty of navigating a layout soaked by rain last week.

Araia, who went to high school in nearby Indianapolis, was second in 30:52.6.

"Luckily, Nef was tough enough and good enough to go out with me," Rohatinsky said. "We worked together to get away from the pack. After that, it just came down to the kick."

Southern Utah's Jess Baumgartner was third in 30:53.2, completing an American sweep of the top three places in a race often dominated by foreign runners.

Two of the favorites, Providence's Martin Fagan (Ireland) and Eastern Kentucky's Jacob Korir (Kenya), were fifth and seventh, respectively. Two other favorites - Wisconsin's Chris Solinsky, who was third last year, and Liberty's Josh McDougal, who was fourth - placed 73rd and 27th, respectively.

The women's race had little drama as Kipyego led virtually wire-to-wire. She said a stress fracture affected her for nearly a year and half, and she is just now showing the form that allowed her to finish eighth in the 2001 World Junior Championships in Belgium.