Kaumba Wins NAIA Title

Oklahoma Baptist University's Mirriam Kaumba, a junior from Zambia, became the university's first-ever women's cross country national champion Saturday with a sterling performance in the 2003 NAIA Cross Country National Championship in Louisville, Ky.

Kaumba won with a time of 17:13.9, with teammate Kari Nunneley finishing in 20th with an All-America time of 18:23.3. The 21 points generated by those two, however, was not enough to vault OBU into the top 10 as a team. The Lady Bison finished 16th with 403 points.

"We didn't finish as well as we wanted to, but it was a special day for Mirriam," said OBU coach Ford Mastin.

The Bison, without an All-American, finished 15th on the men's side with 391 points.

Kaumba out-kicked Evelina Slatinska of Central Methodist for nearly a nine-second margin of victory. Hart picked up All-America honors again for OBU, but the other three Lady Bison scorers were well back.

Chandra Huckabay was 160th in 20:02, Tara White was 165th in 20:04 and Kyta Ferrer was 188th in 20:24. Several individuals ran and OBU's is an adjusted score.

The Bison were paced by Brady Schmiedeberg in 36th at 25:52, followed by Daniel Ellis in 53rd at 26:08, Mylo Miller in 123rd at 26:57, Michael Elizondo in 134th at 27:10 and Landon Willets in 155th at 27:27.

Also for OBU's men, Theron Stoltzfus was 179th and Richard Parr was 215th. Also running for OBU's women were Katy Rader in 192nd and Andrea Mount in 222nd.