CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Harding University junior Daniel Kirwa placed second in the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday. Kirwa finished with a time of 30:13.69, finishing a little over eight seconds behind winner Amos Sang of Abilene Christian.
"The race went out really slowly," said Harding head coach Steve Guymon. "It was really hot and humid and no one wanted to lead. Sang took off with about 800 meters to go and Daniel just could not catch him."
Kirwa, a native of Eldoret, Kenya, won the 10,000 meters each of the last two years. His second-place finish gave Kirwa his fifth career outdoor track All-America honor.
Sophomore Philip Biwott also competed in the race but did not finish.
"Philip was running well and was in fourth place but began cramping and dropped out of the race," explained Guymon.
Kirwa and Biwott will run Friday in the preliminaries of the 5,000 meters at 7:35 p.m. Central Time. The 5,000 meter final is Saturday at 8:03 p.m.
Kirwa won the 5,000 meter national championship in 2008 and finished second last year.
10,000 Meter Race Results
1 Amos Sang JR Abilene Christian 30:04.98 10
2 Daniel Kirwa JR Harding 30:13.69 8
3 Glarius Rop FR American Int'l 30:16.26 6
4 Jimmy Elam SR Chico State 30:20.27 5
5 Ruben Sanca SR Umass Lowell 30:21.26 4
6 Marko Cheseto JR Alaska Anchorage 30:36.40 3
7 Luke Cragg SR Adams State 30:43.16 2
8 Sean Brown JR Western State 30:43.42 1
9 Chris Reed JR Western Oregon 30:52.21
10 Edwin Cruz SO Adams State 30:59.21
11 Jordan Welling JR Western Washington 31:21.70
12 Dustin Emerick SO Southern Indiana 31:23.47
13 Paul Zielinski SO Grand Valley St. 31:32.76
14 Bennett Grimes JR Western Washington 31:37.57
15 Brennan Benkert SR Missouri Southern 32:02.65
-- Philip Biwott SO Harding DNF