"Watching the race unfold, I can honestly say that there weren't too many runners that finished as hard as he did.  He kept passing people all the way to the finish line.  This performance is very impressive for a freshman, which tells me he will be a frontrunner in the AAC for the next few years," said Head Coach Jose Larios.  "He watched the championships very closely, seeing what it takes to be an All-American.  He has big goals, and I'm thrilled to work with such a humble and complete competitor."

After finishing his first marathon, Ben Hall had this to say about his accomplishment, "I just wanted to honor God and give him all the glory.  I ran this to honor Him."

In the women's marathon, Arilicia Adkins also completed the marathon in 19th place, in a time of 3:23.43, a full six minutes faster than her goal of a sub 2:40 marathon!  She too stuck to a conservative early-race plan as many runners dropped back in the later stages of the gruelling race.

"Artie did an amazing job.  She had a goal and was bound and determined to make the best of her first trip to the national championships," praised Larios.  "This is a huge accomplishment for her, which should carry over to cross country."

As for Kosgei and Bishop, both runners recorded DNF's (did not finish) in their respected races.  Kosgei's was due to a knee injury in the 5000m semi-finals.  Talisa suffered what many first-time marathoners experience- competing too hard, too soon.  She made her way up to 10th place, setting her sights on the sixth place (the final All-American position), but just after the 19th mile, she suffered heavy exhaustion and was not able to finish.  Once arriving to St. Louis, she was struck with a miserable head cold as well which hampered her throughout the race. 

"Looking back at both races, both Wilbourn and Talisa could've completed their races, but it would have probably caused an injury and hampered their training for this fall's cross country season," said Larios, "so, I'm  glad they made the right decision to drop out when they did."

All in all, the small track program had a great first season this year. 

"With our new recruits, I feel like we will be back at the national meet again, Lord willing, with greater results," concluded Coach Larios.

Full results can be seen by clicking here.