Rolling hills, wind, rain and 36 other runners weren't enough to slow Kansas Wesleyan's Kaeori Giron (SO/El Paso, Texas).

Giron took the lead at the start and ran away from the field in winning the Tabor Cottonwood Cross Country Challenge on Saturday at Harvey County Lake East.

Giron's time was 26 minutes, 48.96 seconds over the 8 kilometer course, helping the Coyotes to a second place finish in the men's standings with 26 points – five behind Southwestern.

The Kansas Conference recognized Giron's effort Tuesday by naming him the Men's Runner of the Week.

Giron's time was just off his career-best 8K effort of 26:42.56 a week earlier in the Muthama-Rogers Invitational that was run on a flatter course in better conditions.

Giron qualified for the NAIA National Championship last fall as a freshman.

"He's bought in from the get-go," first-year KWU coach Kyle Hiser said. "He had a good summer of training, that base helped a lot.

"He was a national qualifier for us last year, he wants to be a national qualifier for us again this year. He knew he was going to have to take his training to the next level. He did that summer and we've been building off that fitness he built over the summer and he's had some awesome workouts so far this fall."

Hiser said the challenge has been keeping things in perspective for Giron.

"Sometimes I have to pull the reins back a little bit because he wants to continue to push," he said. "Take a little off the gas here and he's been very receptive to that. He's been listening to what I'm giving him as a coach and I think that's what really has been paying off for him."

Learning to compete at a high level each week has also has been crucial.

"That has been huge for his confidence," Hiser said. 

Two of Giron's teammates also finished in the top 10 at Tabor – Sam Overbey (FR/Leavenworth, Kan.) second in 27:30.41 and Jacob Lovell (JR/Junction City, Kan.) 10th in 28:42.29.

"That group has been what's given him an extra push," Hiser said. "Sam right now is the number one freshman in the conference so he's taken Kaeori's spot from last year.

"It's been good pressure. If you have someone there nipping at your heels it's going to push you. Jacob Lovell's been a really good leader for us and directing the guys' squad in a positive direction. It's been fun to see how those three work together."

The Coyotes are idle until October 12, when they compete in the Fort Hays State Tiger Open at Sand Plum Nature Trail in Victoria.

"I said once October 1 hits we're in championship season," Hiser said. "We're going to go see Fort Hays and (NAIA) MidStates II (October 26 in Augusta) which are really championship-level fields.

"These next two weeks we're just fine-tuning things, just putting those final layers on the cake to make sure we're as prepared as we can be going into the championship season."