MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University cross country team delivered a dominant performance at the Swags Louisville Cross Country Classic, highlighted by a historic run from sophomore Joy Naukot, who finished second overall and set a new WVU 5k record.
 
Naukot finished second overall with a career best time of 15:48, surpassing the previous WVU and course records of 16:06 set last year by former Mountaineer Ceili McCabe.
 
Behind her, redshirt sophomore Mercy Kinyanjui impressed in her WVU debut, clocking 16:41 to finish just ahead of redshirt senior Emily Bryce. Junior Anastasia Chepkorir also shined in her Mountaineer debut, placing in the top 10 with a time of 16:55.
 
Lexi Lamb rounded out the scoring five with a career best 17:09, helping West Virginia secure a team victory over a highly competitive Clemson squad.
 
Additional personal bests came from redshirt senior Tatiana Moura with a time of 17:46 and junior Eva Rinker with a time of18:00.
 
"This was a fun race for the team today. It is not often that we have the opportunity to run 5,000 during the season," said WVU coach Sean Cleary. "It was very clear to anybody following the sport closely that Clemson had not been given the respect they deserved this year. That was a very strong Clemson squad. Beyond today, they will prove this over the next two months."
 
West Virginia will return to action at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational on Oct. 11, at Schenley Park in Clinton, Pa.
 
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