Freshman Kiel Uhl Wins National Cross Country Title

NEW YORK CITY - Freshman Kiel Uhl was crowned the USA Junior National Cross Country Champion in New York City on Sunday. Uhl is now eligible to compete on the United States' team for the World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

"This was a good feeling," Uhl said. "I started focusing on this race after the cross country season and it was a lot of hard work paying off today."

"It's a great opportunity for Kiel to be able to compete on a world team," said men's head cross country coach Corey Ihmels.

Uhl's winning 8K time of 23:50 marked a personal best and came in a field loaded with top athletes from around the United States.

"The competition was tough. A lot of guys ran personal-records and it was great to actually run against some of them," Uhl said.

Coach Ihmels knows what it takes to be a USA Junior National Champion. He won the title in 1993.

"Kiel is the fourth ISU junior national champion," Ihmels said. "We're excited for him and he worked hard to get to this point. This is also huge for our program. It's a world meet and this helps bring our program back to the floor."

Iowa State's John Nuttall won the race in 1986 and Tim Wakeland was the champion in 1983.

Uhl's championship performance took place in New York City's famed Van Cortlandt Park.

"It was a really exciting place to run," Uhl said. "The atmosphere just made me more pumped up for the race."

The World Cross Country Championships will take place in Japan April first through the second.

ISU's Jory Zunich also competed in the national race. He finished with a time of 25:08 and was the 24th man across the line.

You can watch the USA Junior National Cross Country Championships on ESPN 2 at 11:00 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19th.

Uhl at ISU

Uhl was the number one cross country runner leading the Cyclones at every meet during the 2005 season. He earned a spot at the NCAA Championships where he finished 67th out of 253 competitors with a 10K time of 30:46. At the Midwest Regional, he was runner-up among 150 runners with a time of 30:55. He also helped the Cyclones to a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships where he crossed the line in seventh (8K, 24:06).

Iowa State University Athletics

Freshman Kiel Uhl Wins National Cross Country Title

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