Timothy Chesondin, James Sankei earn SEC weekly honors

FAYETTEVILLE – A pair of Razorbacks earned SEC weekly honors following their respective performances at the 37th Chile Pepper Festival. Timothy Chesondin was named SEC men’s Runner of the Week while James Sankei received SEC men’s Freshman of the Week.

Both Razorbacks produced fast times over 8,000m on the Agri Park course. The winning time of 22:53.6 by Chesondin bettered the meet and course record of 22:57.0 set by Kirami Yego of Arkansas in 2024. Sankei, meanwhile, generated the fastest fourth-place time at Agri Park with a 23:31.3 performance.

In addition to those pair of performances, Razorback Brian Masai registered the fastest runner-up time at Agri Park with his 23:10.2 effort. That bettered a 23:19.2 set in 2024 by Elkana Kipruto of Stephen F. Austin.

Chesondin, who also earned national runner of the week accolades from USTFCCCA, now has two of the top 10 times ever run on the Agri Park 8k course. His 23:23.6 from the 2024 Chile Pepper race ranks as the top third-place finish on the course and 10th overall.

Sankei, a 19-year-old freshman from Kenya, made his Razorback debut during the McDonnell Memorial 8k this past weekend. He was third among the Arkansas crew as four Razorbacks finished among the top five.

Ben Shearer was the fourth Arkansas finisher, and he produced the best fifth-place time of 23:38.4 at Agri Park, which was just off his runner-up time of 23:36.6 in the 2023 Chile Pepper race.