Dodge City Community College Athletics

1998 Men's Cross Country Team
National Champions
Induction Year: 2017

The 1998 Dodge City Community College men's cross country team is still one of the best cross country teams that the NJCAA has ever seen put together. Head Coach Joe Weis came into the fall of 1998 knowing that he had the makings of a championship team, but felt that he was one member shy, prompting him to ask for one additional out-of-state scholarship. He was told that if he received that, he would have to win a national championship. Weis would not only go on to lead the cross country team to a national title, but do so convincingly with six of the seven in the Top 20 overall at the national meet as Eliud Njubi won the meet (24:18), Likhaya Dayile earned second place (24:33), and James Karanu placed fourth (25:04) giving the Conquistadors three Top five. Richard Jones grabbed a ninth place (25:28) finish, while Bonifcae Ndungu finished 11th (25:39), and Herbert Mwangi finished 19th (26:09) Overall Dodge City would finish with 27 team points in the meet, 37 fewer than second-place team South Plains (Texas) who had won the past two national championships. 

Members of the team: Likhaya Dayile who went on to Louisiana State University, finishing as a two-time NCAA Cross Country championship qualifier, named Louisiana Athlete of the Year, and finished 44th at the NCAA championships. Richard Jones ran track and field after DC3 at the University of South Florida until 2001. In 2010, he entered the Chicago Marathon, finishing 58th with a time of two hours, 27 minutes, and 36 seconds in the 45,000 participant field. James Karanu moved on to the University of Arkansas, finishing as an All-American in the 800 meters in 1999. Karanu was a nine-time All-American and broke the four-minute mile seven times while finishing fifth in the 800 meters at the World University Games in Spain in 1999. He is currently a respiratory therapist and is married to Patricia with three children. Herbert Mwangi attended Texas Christian University where he qualified for the 2000 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, finishing 54th overall. He set the TCU record in the 10,000 meters in 2002 (29:43.67). Boniface Ndungu transferred to Texas Tech University to run cross country and track. He led the Red Raiders in the 1,500 meters in 1999, ran the fourth-fastest 3,000 meter time in school history, while also running the fastest time in the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters in 2000. Eliud Njubi finished his career at DC3 as a 14-time All-American and 12-time National champion, which included both the 1998 and 1999 individual cross country national championships. He transferred to TCU. A DC3 Athletic Hall of Fame recipient in his own right. Joe Weis moved on from DC3 to become the head women's and men's track and field coach at Johnson County Community College. During his six-year stint at JCCC, he had nine athletes win individual national titles in eight different events. Eleven different times, Weis would lead his teams to top-10 finishes at the NJCAA national meets with four of the 11 finishing in the top five. Since leaving coaching in 2008, he has been the faculty/director of health, physical education, recreation, and wellness at JCCC. He is married to DC3 alum, Kristin (Combs) of Dodge City. Keith Blackwell became a head coach of Odessa College after DC3, where he took his team to a fifth place finish at the 2002 National indoor meet before then moving to Barton County Community College as an assistant. He then became head coach for New Mexico Junior College in track and field in 2005. Other members of the team: Stanley Kipkulei.