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By Rhonda LeValdo-Gayton
Special to News From Indian Country
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(L to R)Dion John, A. James,
Becenti,Dwight
Carlsten,
Harlan Harvey, Matt Grant,
Thomas Zunie
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It was a fitting end for Leo Becenti (Navajo), the lone senior harrier,
on the Men’s Cross Country team at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Going into their conference meet, the tribal college had often come in
second or third in the team standings and for Becenti, they had their
sights set on this title.
“It was our main goal, to win (the) conference, that’s been our goal for the past five years that I have been here, and it’s kind of cool we did it my final year.”
When the team results came in, Haskell’s Men’s Cross Country team
was on top and they made history by winning the University’s first
Midlands Collegiate Athletics Conference (MCAC) title since moving into
the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from the
Junior College level.
Freshman runner Thomas Zunie (Zuni
Pueblo) led the men in every race this year, and finished second
overall in the eight-kilometer race. Zunie says the dedication of
Becenti and advice helped him this year.
“ He was a good role model, telling us how to run, and being a team leader.”
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Leo Becenti, Senior in
Elementary Education |
Both
the men and women traveled around the Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma
area, with only one home meet at Haskell. They competed right along Big
12 Universities to NAIA division runners culminating in their
conference meet in St. Louis, Missouri. The Haskell women placed 3rd
overall with their first runner Lenora Loretto being named to the
second team all conference.
If you ask their Coach Al Gipp
(Hunkpapa Lakota) what it felt like to finally win a title, he gives
the credit to the sportsmanship of Becenti.
“Having had Leo be
on our team for the past five years, it was a bittersweet moment, yeah
we won the conference but on the other hand we were losing someone who
had brought our team leadership, work efforts, and someone who brought
that character to our team.”
Becenti will be graduating in the
spring with his Bachelors degree in Elementary Education. He is also
currently serving as Haskell Brave, a student ambassador representing
all the men at the school.
With the recent success of the
cross-country team, all the runners look forward to showing recruits
that they can succeed on the field at a tribal college. Coach Gipp is
also looking forward to the next season,
“We can build on
this, and the team is looking to repeat, we worked hard to get to the
top, now we are working hard to stay there.”
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Sports 
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