Staff Report | Sports

Mabil steps up in Kiprotich’s absence

For the first time since the 2007 Michigan Intercollegiate 8K Championships, it was junior Riak Mabil who led the men’s cross country team at the Spartan Invitational Friday.

Mabil finished 24th overall in 26 minutes, 1 second in the unscored invitational in East Lansing.

“He knew that he needed to be one of our leaders. He couldn’t be afraid to step up anymore,” said assistant coach Matt Kaczor. “We can’t afford to have him sit back where he was so we had him go out with the leaders.”

CMU competed without Sammy Kiprotich, its top runner, but his teammates stepped up in his absence. Freshman Matt Lutzke took the second spot for CMU as he did last week. Lutzke finished 33rd overall, though he saw places for himself to improve.

“It was good and bad for me. I got a lot of experience,” Lutzke said. “I just didn’t have it in the middle of the race. I think I could have gotten another 10 spots or so with that middle of the race.”

Jeremy Kiley was a pleasant surprise for the Chippewas. The sophomore finished 48th, just behind fellow CMU runner Chris Pankow in 46th.

“He’s been slowly but surely stepping up,” Kaczor said. “A couple of the guys haven’t been where they should be, but he has been improving. Last week at Purdue and this week he proved it.”

CMU showcased its best pack running of the season. Its top four runners finished within one minute of each other for the first time.

“We’re starting to move as a team,” Kaczor said. “The guys are closing that gap.”

Lutzke also noticed his teammates near him and he said it motivated him.

“We ran together and I saw my teammates with me and running past me,” Lutzke said. “It was really nice to see that.”

Michigan dominated the unscored meet, taking the top four spots and eight of the top 12 finishes.

U-M was led by sophomore Craian Olionard, who crossed the finish in 24:44 and senior Lex WIlliams, who finished second in 24:52.

Michigan State also showed strong early-season form. For the second time this season, the Spartans showed stronger team depth against CMU. The Spartans held seven of the top 16 finishes.

CMU is off until Oct. 3, when they travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational. However, Kaczor said the break comes at a good time.

“It will hopefully get us a lot healthier. We got guys that are sick and hurt,” he said. “I’m hoping this will be a good time for guys to kind of evaluate where they are and what the little things guys need to work on right now.”

sports@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Matthew Valinski

This post was written by:

Matthew Valinski - who has written 104 posts on Central Michigan Life.




Leave a Reply

Central Michigan Life encourages those who wish to leave comments, questions or feedback to do so here. Any posts with profanity, excessive defamation or other questionable language are subject to removal at the discretion of CM Life. Direct all questions regarding this policy to the Editor in Chief.

Follow Us

(Sports)
Advertise Here
Advertise Here

Facebook

Overheard @ CMU

Hear something funny on campus? Want to share it with other readers? Click here to fill out the form! We will select our favorite entries for publishing on Page A2 of our print edition.

What We're Reading

Advertising Age

Consumers Trust Their Friends Less

Brian Manzullo: People need to hear/see things in multiple places in order to "believe" it. This story says five, but even two could work.  
Mashable

World’s Longest-Married Couple to Answer Your Romantic Queries Via Twitte

David Veselenak: Who says you can teach an old dog new tricks?They've been married since 1924, which makes it 86 years.  
Read Write Web

5 Reasons to Wait for iPad 2.0

Brian Manzullo: This is how Apple works - iPod and iPhone were flawed when they first came out. Wait for 2nd or 3rd gen iPad and you won't be sorry.  

See more recommended links!

Text Alerts

Phone number

Carrier

*Standard text messaging rates may apply from your carrier*