AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn cross country trio of senior Ryan Kinnane and freshmen Nickson Chebii and Brenda Jepchirchir will compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday, November 23 at the Thomas Zimmer Cross Country Course in Madison, Wisconsin. The women’s 6k race will begin at 9:20 a.m. CT with the men’s 10k to follow at 10:10 a.m. CT.
“This is a sign of growth for both programs,” Auburn cross country coach Aaron Kindt said. “Having the women returning to the national championships is a step forward.”
This marks the first time in program history that Auburn has had three individual qualifiers at the same national championships.
“Nickson and Ryan getting to go is a special feat for both,” Kindt said. “Especially for Ryan. For about three times in a row, he was the first guy to not make nationals. And for him to end his career slamming the door shut on that is an awesome thing to see.”
Kinnane is the third Auburn man ever to qualify individually for two NCAA Cross Country Championships, joining Ty McCormack (2013-14) and Brian Abshire (1984-85). This will be Kinnane’s final race as an Auburn Tiger.
“He (Kinnane) was cathartic for sure,” Kindt said. “And for myself, as a guy that painfully had to watch it last year, it was a joy for me to get to watch him celebrate while having his dad there. To be surrounded by his teammates, it was a special moment.”
Kinnane competed at the 2022 NCAA Championships where he finished 89th overall with 30:09.50. He earned his spot at this year’s championships at the NCAA South Regional where he placed ninth (30:09.50).
Chebii secured his bid at the regional race when he finished just ahead of Kinnane, taking eighth place (29:55.80). Chebii has been the top finisher on the men’s side for the Tigers in three of the four meets he has raced in.
In his rookie campaign, Chebii has earned SEC Men’s Second Team, SEC All-Freshman Team, and NCAA All-Region honors for his performances this season. He is the first Auburn men’s freshman to run at NCAAs since 2008 where Girma Mesecho and Julian Matthews helped the men finish fifth overall as a team.
“It’s exciting to get to this meet as a freshman,” Kindt said. “This meet will throw a bunch of things at them that they’ve never seen before.”
Jepchirchir is the first Auburn woman to qualify since Joyce Kimeli in 2021. She has become a force to be reckoned with, leading the women for the fourth consecutive meet at the NCAA South Regional with an 11th-place finish.
Recently she was named to the SEC Women’s First Team, Women’s All-Freshman Team and NCAA All-Region and was the conference’s freshman female runner of the year.
“We know that this course is going to be challenging, and that experience will pay off a lot for all three of them,” Kindt said. “I’m looking forward to getting up there this weekend and the adjustment we’ve made from when we were there in October.”
The Tigers ran on the Thomas Zimmerman course in October when they competed at Pre-Nationals, so the trio is looking to building off what they’ve already done in Wisconsin. Chebii and Kinnane placed 72nd (23:41.50) and 75th (23:42.90), respectively in the 8k “A” race.
Jepchirchir claimed a meet victory in the 6k “B” race, helping lead the women to a sixth-place finish, crossing the line in 20:00.60.
The men will face off against runners from 31 nationally ranked teams including No. 8 Alabama, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 1 BYU, No. 21 Harvard, No. 4 Iowa State and No. 15 Oregon. The women will see 30 nationally ranked teams like No. 7 Alabama, No. 24 Arkansas, No. 1 BYU, No. 15 Florida and No. 22 Tennessee.
The event will be live-streamed on ESPNU, and live results can be found on pttiming.com.