FORT BENNING, Ga. – Freshman Silus Kipkoech registered a personal-best time of 24:20 in the 8K run to become just the second runner in program history to claim an individual conference title and lead the UNC Pembroke men's cross country team to a runner-up finish at the 2017 Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning on the army base at Fort Benning, Ga.
 
Kipkoech's time matched former all-American and Olympian Pardon Ndhlovu for the second-fastest 8K time in school history which, incidentally, also marked the third-fastest time in PBC Championships history. Kipkoech, Matthew Martin and Logan Ward claimed all-conference recognition by virtue of top-15 finishes in the men's race. It was the fifth time in the last eight years that the men's team registered a first- or second-place showing at the conference championship meet. Kipkoech also claimed PBC Freshman of the Year and Runner of the Meet laurels.
 
On the women's side, Molly McCann crushed her personal best 5K time by nearly 25 seconds en route to finishing 17^th and leading the Braves to a fifth place standing. Riley Axe topped her personal best by 41 seconds on the way to a 26^th place finish, while Kristin Cain was two seconds behind in the 27^th position. Michaela Reynolds (29^th) and Corey Pethers (personal best, 42^nd) rounded out the scoring for the Black & Gold.
 
Kipkoech, who rolled into the weekend with wins in three-straight races, was nearly five seconds faster than the time he turned in on the way to dominating the action at the Florida State Invitational two weeks ago. Matthew Martin crossed the line in fifth place after obliterating his previous personal best time by nearly a minute, while Ward was just a second off of his personal best time on the way to finishing 7^th. Jonathan Martin (26^th) and Curtis Haynie (personal best, 27^th) rounded out the scoring for the Braves.
 
UNCP will be back in action again on November 4 when it makes the short trip to Wingate to take part in the NCAA Southeast Region Championships.
 
 
PEACH BELT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
* UNCP Results Only
 
 
MEN (Top Finisher: Silus Kipkoech, UNC Pembroke – 24:20.8)
! 1. Silus Kipkoech – 24:20.8
! 5. Matthew Martin – 25:21.0
7. Logan Ward – 25:25.3
26. Jonathan Martin – 26:51.1
! 27. Curtis Haynie – 26:52.0
36. Nate Nash – 27:27.7
39. A.J. Sayers-O'Neill – 27:36.1
43. Kellen Corson – 27:42.5
! 52. Ean Ormsby – 28:43.0
59. Nathan Pollard – 29:45.9
 
 
WOMEN (Top Finisher: Katherine Yost, Georgia College – 17:18.8)
! 18. Molly McCann – 18:55.6
! 26. Riley Axe – 19:10.6
27. Kristin Cain – 19:12.6
29. Michaela Reynolds – 19:17.0
! 42. Corey Pethers – 19:42.7
! 56. Shelby McMurray – 20:24.0
59. Sam Badami – 20:53.4
 
! – Personal Best Time