Butler, Kuhn earn NJCAA Half Marathon All-American status; VU men 11th as team

DALLAS, Ga. - Freshman Corinne Butler and sophomore Gabrielle Kuhn earned All-American status in the women's race and the Vincennes University Men's Cross Country Team turned in an 11th place finish at the 2011 NJCAA Half Marathon National Championships, held Saturday morning at Silver Comet Trails in Dallas, GA. The event was hosted by Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, GA.
Butler (Greenfield Central) was 12th in 1:33:36.11and Kuhn (Marshall) 15th in 1:33:46.27 on the trail northwest of Atlanta. The winning time by South Plains' Darroneshia Lott was 1:25:30.96. The women's race had 62 runners and the team championship went to Iowa Central.
"Corinne and Gabby really shined with two of the best performances they've ever had," said VU Cross Country Coach Chris Gafner. "Also, our men's team ran solid with five out of six of our runners in the Half Marathon for the first time."
In the men's race, VU sophomore D.J. Taylor was 33rd with a time of 1:14:48.96, while freshman Hunter Motz came in 36th at 1:15:00.67. Other Trailblazer runners were freshman Matthew Collier (56th) at 1:17:32.67, freshman Ken Renshaw (62nd) at 1:18:36.19, sophomore Taylor Lowry (70th) at 1:22:05.17 and freshman Jacob Bingham (91st) at 1:28:58.12. the men's race had 102 official finishers.
Iowa Central also won the men's meet, and Iowa Central runner Stanley Kebenei was the winner in 1:06:17.70.
The performances by Butler, Kuhn and the Trailblazer men come a week after the pair of women and seven male VU runners competed at the NJCAA Cross Country National Championship Meet in Hobbs, NM. In that event, Taylor earned All-American recognition.