MACKENZIE HOWE | staff writer

Rono and Canterbury beome the first NAIA individual champions in program history with Kipwambok finishing just 4 seconds behind.

APU runners Jaime Canterbury, Jackline Kipwambok, and Aron Rono made NAIA history this year and set a new record for APU.

Junior Aron Rono won the men’s individual 8K race at nationals this year, with a 23:52 time making him the first Cougar to win the NAIA championship in 40 years of APU cross-country.

Just hours later, junior Jaime Canterbury took first as well in the women’s individual race, running 17:10 in a 5k run that places 268 women. Her time broke APU’s record by 18 seconds, and her own personal record by 33 seconds.

Her runner up was freshman Jackline Kipwambok, who took second place with a 17:14. This is the second time in the NAIA’s 52 year history that a school has won both men’s and women’s individual races in the same year.

Canterbury is a junior psychology major. She spent her freshman year in Adams Hall, her sophomore year in the mods, and now resides off campus. The Laguna Niguel native has been running since her freshman year in high school.

“I like it a lot, I really enjoy track and cross country,” Canterbury said.

She said coming in first place at nationals this year was an immense improvement from nationals three years ago when she placed 134th.

Her training partner Jacky Kipwambok is a freshman from Kenya who began with race walking. Before coming to APU, she attended a community college in Kansas.

The two women run around 70 miles a week together, so it is no wonder they placed so closely together. Tuesdays and Thursdays are their workout days, and Saturdays are their long runs. The long runs last anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours.

They train for cross country season in fall and then indoor—outdoor running in spring. They are looking forward to training together for spring season in order to improve and break new records. The two work well together and complement each other’s strengths.

“I could improve the start of my race,” Canterbury said.

Kipwambok is working on the opposite aspect of her running.

“I don’t have a strong finish; I think I should improve in that,” Kipwambok said.

The women arrived in Kenosha, Wis. on Wednesday, November 14 for Nationals. They had scheduled runs and workouts every day, and finally competed on Saturday, Nov. 17. They competed with the team, and also in the individual women’s race.

“It was bittersweet because [the team] hoped to be on the podium, which was top four coming into the meet. I’m happy with our races individually but I wish that we could’ve competed better as a team,” Canterbury said.

However the two women did exceptionally well in their individual races.

“We have cultural differences, and my accent is too strong for her,” Kipwambok said.

Canterbury replied that she does understand it and therefore ends up translating for everyone. The women are enjoyable together, and both are driven, which makes for a great partnership. Since Canterbury took first place this year, and Kipwambok took second in her freshman year at APU, this dynamic duo’s future looks bright.

“I think Jacky is a comedian,” Canterbury said as the two chuckled.

“I think Jamie is too, ‘cause if you’re not a comedian then you would not be entertained with what I am talking about,” Kipwambok said to Canterbury.

Neither of the women plans to make running their career after college. If a runner is to make it professionally, they must join an elite club or get sponsored by major companies.

Both women said that they would have to improve in order to make a profession out of running, and for now they’re figuring out where their major will take them.

Last year Rono came in third at nationals, but made a great improvement when he took first this year. He finished 30 seconds before his runner up, and has been placed in the top five in the NAIA for the third year in a row.

As a team, the women placed sixth in the championship race while the men placed 14th. The contributions from Canterbury, Kipwambok, and Rono helped APU place in the upper half among the 29 women and the 28 men teams.

The victory APU experienced at nationals this year was certainly achievable but was not unexpected. The runners displayed endurance, leadership and improvement.