Following dominant performances at Mountain West Conference and Mountain Regional meets, Kelati looks to reach next level by capturing national title, possibly challenging LaVern Gibson course record in Terre Haute

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Call it a championship summit.

A discussion among distance stars.

Or perhaps, a metaphorical passing of the title torch.

In the aftermath of the women’s 6-kilometer race Friday at the NCAA Mountain Regional in Utah, reigning cross country national champion Dani Jones of Colorado shared a brief conversation with New Mexico junior and two-time regional winner Weini Kelati, last year’s national runner-up and one of the leading contenders to win Saturday’s NCAA Division 1 final at LaVern Gibson course in Terre Haute, Ind.

“It means a lot to me,” Kelati said. “That’s how I want to see myself. That’s how I want to be progressing every year to be better.”

Both athletes went on to secure outdoor national championships in June in Texas, with Kelati prevailing in the 10,000-meter final and Jones capturing the 5,000-meter crown.

With Jones having completed her cross country eligibility at Colorado – but still having one season each of indoor and outdoor track remaining in 2020 – she joined the many spectators Friday at Rose Park Golf Course in Salt Lake City in watching Kelati dominate another quality field by winning in 18 minutes, 58.7 seconds, finishing nearly a minute ahead of New Mexico teammate Ednah Kurgat (19:55.9), the 2017 national champion.

It marked the second straight convincing victory by Kelati over Kurgat, including a 49-second margin Nov. 1 at the Mountain West Conference final in Logan, Utah. Kelati clocked 19:11.2 on the same 6-kilometer layout at the Steve and Dona Reeder course where she ran 20:05.5 at the 2017 Mountain Regional.

“I truly believe consistency is the most impressive and most important attribute of an athlete. I think it’s what separates the elite from others,” Jones said. “That being said, it’s also extremely difficult to perform well, consistently. To be the best, or close to it, every time you race is so impressive and likely to pay off when it matters.”

Since placing seventh at the 2017 national championship, contributing to a team title for New Mexico, Kelati has only lost to a pair of athletes the past two seasons in cross country – Wisconsin senior Alicia Monson and Jones.

Kelati and Monson have split their two meetings this season – Kelati prevailing by 12 seconds Oct. 4 at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational and Monson securing a nine-second victory Oct. 18 on her home course at the Nuttycombe Invitational – and each athlete has won four times head to head in their careers, including indoor and outdoor track races.

Since their last matchup, Monson has won the Big 10 title and earned another victory Friday at the Great Lakes Regional, with Kelati producing two record-setting performances in Utah.

“I just want to keep racing and keep improving and keep learning. That’s the good thing about running is you’re done with the first race and you come back and there’s another race and you do a lot better,” Kelati said. “I don’t want to compare everyone else to myself, but I just want to do the best of me. I want to perform the runs that I want. I feel like this year is much better and it makes me happy about myself to see how I’m getting better every race.”

Jones and Monson both possess exceptional closing speed, demonstrating the ability to remain in contact with a frontrunner like Kelati and then surge ahead in the final kilometer in order to secure victory. Since the Nuttycombe loss to Monson, Kelati has charged to the front from the outset in her conference and regional races and never looked back.

“I think the best athletes figure out what their strengths are, and learn how to foster them and use them while racing,” Jones said. “In my case, I’m confident in the final minutes of a race, while others feel comfortable earlier. I don’t necessarily think taking it from the gun makes an athlete a brave outlier, unless they know it’s their best chance at winning. It’s impressive to me when athletes know what move to make, and make it with no hesitation and complete confidence.”

Even with the setback in Wisconsin, New Mexico coach Joe Franklin remained confident Kelati was primed for bigger things in the postseason.

“I wasn’t concerned because training was going very well, we just had to translate the training into racing. She’s been running exceptionally all year,” Franklin said. “Data points will show us something physiologically and if we can get the head around it, then the sky is the limit, and we’re starting to get the head around it.”

Jones also knows that keeping a cool head makes a significant difference in the championship race, with experience helping her improve from 49th as a freshman in 2015 to becoming Colorado’s second national title in program history last year.

“Experience is huge in cross country. The race is hectic, it’s aggressive, and it’s always a hard effort. Knowing what to expect is a great advantage. For me, experience meant less nerves and more excitement,” Jones said. “The most important thing to remember about NCAA cross champs – anything can happen.”

Jones recognizes how formidable a challenger Kelati can be for Monson and the entire field in Terre Haute, but the New Mexico standout still gave the reigning champion ultimate respect at Friday’s meet when she said, “I saw you running around the course before the race and I still couldn’t catch you.”

But if Kelati can continue her momentum, she might not only be able to capture a national title Saturday, but potentially challenge the 6-kilometer course record of 19:28.1 at LaVern Gibson established by Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego in 2008. Kurgat boasts the fastest time in championship meet history of 19:19.5 from 2017 at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Kentucky.

“That would be amazing,” Kelati said. “It motivates me a lot and it’s something that you look up to, so I would be blessed to be a part of that.”