Joplin, Mo. - NYIT sophomore Evans Kigen (El Doret, Kenya) capped his stellar season by finishing in eighth place out of 167 of the top NCAA Division II collegiate cross country runners today, with a time of 30:30 at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Joplin, Mo.

With the eighth place finish, Kigen becomes the first men's cross country runner in NYIT history to earn All-American honors.

In a hallmark season for the cross country program, Kigen led the Bears to their first East Coast Conference team championship, a fourth place fninsh in the regional rankings, their highest in the history of the program, all while earning NCAA Northeast Region Runner of the Year. Kigen was also the first NYIT cross country runner to win the ECC individual championship.