Nov. 18, 2007

FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU distance runner Festus Kigen will represent the Horned Frogs at the 2007 NCAA Championships this Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

Start time for the men's race will be 11 a.m. (CT) on Monday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course located at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.

Kigen, a Kenya native, comes into the championships having led TCU in every meet this fall. This past weekend he finished 10th overall at the South Central Regional to punch his ticket to Indiana.

His 15th-place effort at the Mountain West Championships led TCU in Albuquerque, N.M., while his 10K time of 30:04.03 at the regional currently ranks second in the Mountain West Conference.

Kigen, who was recently named to the 2007 South Central Region cross country team, has had a successful sophomore campaign, earning Mountain West Conference Athlete of the Week following a fifth-place finish at the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 22.

Overall, Kigen, who has posted a season best time of 24:34:00 in the 8K, finished first overall at the North Texas Invitational on Sept. 15, while turning in back-to-back top-10 performances at the Cowboy Jamboree and Chili Pepper Festival, respectively this fall.

Kigen is the first Horned Frog runner to run at the NCAA Championships since Kip Kangogo closed out his senior campaign with a 33rd-place finish in 2005.

By qualifying for the NCAA Championships Kigen became the fourth TCU runner in the past five years to qualify to compete at the NCAA's.