Boma Earns First XC All-America Award in School History

William Penn University Athletics

Elsah, Ill.–Jamal Boma (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Business Management and Physical Education) accomplished something Saturday no other Statesmen cross country runner had ever done as he raced to All-America honors at the NAIA National Championships.

Boma was already the owner of the best 8K time in school history, so it seems only fitting that he would cap off the best individual season ever at William Penn by becoming its first-ever All-American. Racing as an individual for the navy and gold, Boma, the Heart of America Athletic Conference champion, placed 13th out of 331 runners with a time of 24:54.8. He was only three seconds away from being in the top 10 and 19 seconds away from the top five.

The top 30 individuals were named All-Americans.

The senior came out of the gate strong, completing his first mile in 4:53.5 to be within a second of the leaders. He remained in the top 10 after the second and third miles, but he and others were falling off the pace of eventual champion Thomas Jackson of Bacone (Okla.) and runner-up Geoffrey Kipchumba of William Carey (Miss.), the 2015 national champion.

In the end, Jackson closed better than Kipchumba to take the crown at 23:50.2, while Kipchumba crossed the line at 23:57.1; the third-place finisher was more than 30 seconds back of the duo.

Boma, who won three races this year and picked up four Heart Runner of the Week awards, was just three seconds off his own school record. He is the only male harrier to eclipse the 25-minute barrier and he did so twice this fall.

Southern Oregon won the national title with 122 points, while St. Francis (Ill.) was second with 148 points.