Tribe’s Christo Landry and Kathy Newberry Compete at World Cross Country Championships

03/20/05 7:30PM

SAINT-GALMIER, FRANCE - William and Mary’s freshman All-American Christo Landry (Falls Church, VA) and interim head women’s track and field coach Kathy Newberry represented the United States this weekend at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, held in Saint Galmier, France.

Landry, who dazzled in a brilliant rookie cross country season that saw him earn All-America, All-Southeast and All-CAA honors, raced in the men’s junior 8,000m race, finishing as the third-highest American. Landry clocked a 26:13 for 46th overall in a field of 132 runners, helping the United States finish in seventh place (with a score of 154) in the 18-team field as Kenya won the junior championship on the men’s side with a score of 10, sweeping the top five positions. Kenya’s Choge Augustine Kiprono won the race by completing the 8,000m in 23:59. Landry, who had qualified for the Worlds thanks to a fourth-place performance at the USA Cross Country Championships in February, will now refocus his efforts on the track season, where he had already broken the IC4A 5,000m standard in the indoor season, but forewent a chance to vie for the IC4A title by training for the World Cross Country Championships.

Newberry was representing the United States for the second-consecutive season at the Worlds, and finished as the third-highest American in the women’s 8,000m championship. Clocking a 29:14 for 38th place overall in a field of 94 harriers, Newberry helped the U. S. to a fifth-place finish, tallying a score of 122. Ethiopia won the team title with a score of 16, placing five runners in the top 10, as Ethiopia’s Dibaba Tirunesh won the race in 26:34. Newberry had qualified for the American team thanks to a fourth-place effort at the USA Cross Country Championships in February, and the bid was another accolade in what has become a storied post-collegiate career for the former CAA Champion and All-East distance ace for the Green and Gold. Ranked 10th nationally in the 10,000m to end 2004, Newberry qualified for the finals of both the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2004 Olympic Trials and finished 25th, as the second-highest American, at the Worlds in 2004.