Trojan XC men headed to fifth straight NCAA D-II championship meet

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 19, 2015 1:51 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Michael Munoz expects emotions to run high before the starter's gun sounds to start the final cross country meet of his collegiate career.

That's the bitter part.

The sweet part is Munoz and his University of Mount Olive teammates -- for the fifth consecutive year -- will conclude their season at the NCAA Division II men's national championship meet. The race is Saturday on the 10k Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.

"I'm going to have a lot of emotions running through my head," said Munoz, who earned all-Southeast Region accolades and is just one of two UMO runners -- Aki Kitigawa is the other -- to compete in four NCAA finals during their respective collegiate careers.

"More than anything, we're going to give it all we've got since its the last time ... push the team to the do the best we can (and) have the best finish that we can as a team because that's been our main goal."

The Trojans finished 19th overall last season.

Kitigawa logged a 41st-place effort of 31 minutes, 29.3 seconds. Munoz (32:48), Eugenio Gil (33:06), graduate Austin Steagall (33:31.2) and Fredric Lang (34:04) all finished among the top 200 competitors.

UMO enters the national finals ranked 16th in the USTFCCCA poll.

Kitigawa sat out the season-ending Conference Carolinas meet with an injury. He helped lead the Trojans to their second Southeast Regional crown in the past three seasons, but admitted he's not completely 100 percent.

"I still have to be careful with what I do until I race," said Kitigawa, who has been an integral part of four Conference Carolinas championship teams.

"The pain is still there. I just still need to get some body rest and mental preparation. I want to run with them, finish with them, have a good time and race hard."

During regular-season competition, the Trojans won the Bulldog Stampede at Wingate University. They secured runner-up honors at the Elon Invitational and Royals Cross Country Challenge in Charlotte.

Munoz said the "running as a pack" strategy has paid off.

"There's been a lot of commitment, determination and pushing each other in the middle of the race," Munoz said. "We want to prove to people we are better than last year. It's teamwork. If one of us starts moving forward to push to the pace, one of your teammates needs to move forward with you.

"We're going to have to pass more opponents to move up in the race."

No. 1-ranked Adams State (Colo.) -- to no one's surprise -- is favored to claim its fourth consecutive national title and seventh overall since 2008.