SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Joshua Chepkesir became just the second student-athlete in the history of the UNC Pembroke cross country program to post a sub-30-minute time in the 10K on the way to finishing 8^th at the NCAA Division II National Championships in northern California on Saturday.
 
Chepkesir registered a personal best time of 29:55.9 at the event and finished just 24 seconds off of the pace of national champion Ezra Mutai of American International. Chepkesir was among the top 3 runners through the first 9.1 kilometers (5.65 miles) before losing a tiny bit of ground down the stretch.
 
He led the race at the 2.3K (1.43 miles) mark, and was among the top-2 runners through 5.7K (3.54 miles).
 
Saturday's result marked just the fifth top-10 finish for a Peach Belt Conference student-athlete in the 30-year history of the league, but the first since Columbus State's Meshack Koyiaki tallied a runner-up showing at the 2010 championships. His performance marked the best result for a UNCP runner at the NCAA Division II National Championships since former all-American Garry Henry won the national championship in 1980.
 
Chepkesir's time was nearly a minute faster than previous performance by a PBC student-athlete at the event. The mark was just 33 seconds (29:32) off of Henry's school-record mark that was established at the 1980 NCAA Championships.