BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Norfolk State sophomore Gidion Sigei put on a performance to remember on Friday, winning his race at the Paul Short Run in the fastest time by a Spartan in 17 years.

Sigei clocked an 8K time of 23:51.1, winning by one-tenth of a second in the prestigious cross country race hosted by Lehigh University featuring top teams from around the region. Sigei's time is the best by a Spartan since 2005, when MEAC Hall of Famer David Kemboi (23:30.1) and former Spartan all-region runner Hillary Cheruiyot (23:40.1) both ran slightly faster.

No Spartan in the 16 seasons since has broken 24:00 for an 8K. It is also believed to be the best time by a MEAC runner since those times by Kemboi and Cheruiyot.

"This was the first 8K of the season, so everything we have done was to progress into having a productive 8K today," said NSU director of track and field Kenneth Giles. "Having Gidion win such a prestigious race helps us from all angles. All of his threshold workouts leading up to this race pointed to him going sub 24:00, but you never know. I knew he was going to run fast. He went out in the lead from the start and maybe relaxed a little to make the race closer than it should have been. But he ran a good race."

Sigei highlighted what was a stellar day for the Spartans, whose top four runners all posted times under 26:30. Senior Regan Kimtai was 56^th overall in a personal record 8K time of 24:55.9. Senior Evans Cheruiyot clocked an impressive 25:15.3 for 88^th place, while Isa Suleiman posted a time of 26:27.7. Decathlete Jahquan Christopher also competed for the Spartans, who were 25^th overall in the team standings out of 45 teams.

The Spartans have next week off before returning to action at the Panorama Farms XC23 Invitational in Earlysville on Oct. 15.