Terre Haute, IN – Hofstra senior Alex Masai concluded his brilliant cross country career at the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Championships on the rain-drenched LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course Saturday.

After sitting in 11^th place after 3,000-meters, the Pride's spectacular senior slipped back in the pack in the driving rain and hilly course to finish in 127^th-place in the NCAA Championship in 32:10.6 in the field of 253 competitors.

Masai has enjoyed a career of firsts at Hofstra as the Eldoret, Kenya native became the first Pride student-athlete to win the NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Northeast Regional Championship to qualify for today's national championship meet. He is the first Pride runner to achieve both accomplishments.

Masai was the first CAA men's cross country runner to qualify for the NCAA Championship since 2014, when Elon's Luis Vargas competed and took 25th.

Masai posted a school-record 10K time of 28:42.3 in the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship to top the field of 268 runners. His time shattered Rudy Martinez's 2005 school mark of 31:05, by 2:23, set at the NCAA Northeast Regionals at Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts.

Masai was named the recipient of the 2019 Fred Tootell Award as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Northeast Region Athlete of the Year earlier this week.

Masai's competition in the NCAA Championship meet Saturday concludes an amazing season which saw him win five meet titles in six outings this season. He was one of just two student-athletes who were undefeated entering the NCAA Championship today. In addition to the 10K Northeast Regional title, Masai captured championships at the Stony Brook Wolfie Invitational, the Lehigh Paul Short Run, the Princeton Invitational, and then won his second consecutive Colonial Athletic Association championship.
 
In two years with the Pride, Masai has won seven cross country titles in nine career meets. In 2018, he won the Stony Brook Wolfie Invitational and the CAA Championship.

In today's NCAA Championship, Iowa State senior Edwin Kurgat won the individual championship in 30:32.7. Colorado senior Joe Klecker was second in 30:37.1 and Brigham Young sophomore Connor Mantz was third in 30:40.0. In the team standings, Brigham Young broke Northern Arizona's three-year stranglehold on the team championship by finishing with 109 points. The Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona were second with 163 points and Colorado was third with 164 in the 31-team field.