Winfield, Kan.---Before he left for Kansas on Friday, Wayland Baptist University cross country coach Brian Whitlock was confident that his women's team could successfully defend their team title at the NAIA Mid-States Classic. The thing that the fourth-year coach was more excited about was whether his 2007 All-American, Caroline Karunde, would be able to break the 17 minute barrier on Saturday morning, something no other Pioneer woman has ever done in a 5K race.

Whitlock was right about the team competition. The #10 Pioneers easily beat out the rest of the field scoring 39 points. Doane College, ranked 22nd in the latest NAIA Coaches Poll, finished 62 points behind the WBU women with 101. He was also on-the-mark regarding Karunde's performance. The sophomore from Kenya repeated as the individual champion, running a school-record 16:34, 48 seconds better than the mark she set on the same course a year ago.

"Caroline had an incredible workout earlier this week, and I really felt like she would be able to do it, particularly on this course. I didn't figure she would have any competition to push her, so we put together a good strategy for her to get out hard and have a chance to break 17. She did a great job of executing the plan."

What the fourth-year coach failed to see coming was the time turned in by his other fantastic Kenyan, freshman Purity Biwott. Biwott finished second in the race, becoming the second Pioneer to break the 17 minute barrier with a time of 16:57.

"Can you believe it? Purity has been steadily improving her times, but I never dreamed she was ready to do that. I really believe that if they keep running like that and if the weather is even decent in Wisconsin, those two have a great chance to finish in the top five at nationals."

The other four women running for Wayland also turned in excellent performances. Senior Erin Britton ran an 18:33 to finish 8th. Elva Pedroza, who was going to redshirt this season until recent injuries to Kydia Echols and Diana Gutierrez forced a change of plans, ran a personal best of 18:57 to finish 13th, while freshmen Selené Lopez crossed the finish line 15th with a time of 19:03 and Katie Roland ran a 19:21 to come in 28th.

"That was the best performance by a women's team I have ever witnessed. We were ranked 10th in last week's poll. This should close the gap between us and the top four or five."

On the men's side, the Pioneers finished in ninth place with 236 points. Three freshmen paced the WBU men, led by Luis Pena who ran a 26:54. Michael Sandoval and Lucuis Lopez finished 41st and 42nd respectively with times of 27:00 and 27:02.

Junior Kirby Dunn, who has been hobbled by an injury, was 66th with a time of 27:41, followed by sophomore Kail Kidd ran a 27:47 for 70th place. John Keith (75th place - 27:52) and Skylar Lovett (106th place - 28:40) also competed for Wayland.

Both cross country teams will have next weekend off to prepare for the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships to be held Saturday, November 8.