Naimadu wins again

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - ACU cross country standout Nicodemus Naimadu won his seventh straight race Saturday morning as he took home the individual title at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival, leading the Wildcats to a third-place finish in the team standings.

Naimadu has not lost a race since he finished second at last year's Chile Pepper Festival, and next week in Stephenville he is the heavy favorite to defend his Lone Star Conference championship as the ACU men look for their 16th straight league championship.

ACU was running in its first 10,000-meter race of the season, but the longer distance didn't seem to affect Naimadu, as he breezed past the mostly NCAA Division I field, setting a course record with a time of 28:22.8. Naimadu also set the course record last week at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree en route to the individual championship at that meet.

"Nicodemus really put on a show," ACU head cross country coach Derek Hood said. "He started a little bit slow with an average first mile (4:35), but he really put the hammer down on the second mile (4:13). He was phenomenal for our first 10K race of the year."

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