BARRANQUILLA, Colombia – Running for the first time in a United States national team singlet, Stanford’s Maksim Korolev won the inaugural Pan American Cross Country Cup on Sunday, signifying the championship of the Western Hemisphere.
Korolev kicked past the field with a late surge to win the 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race in 28:21, earning a 10-second victory over runner-up Gilberto Silvestre Lopes of Brazil. The U.S. won the team title in a meet organized by the Association of Panamerican Athletics. The meet also served as the NACAC -- covering North and Central America and the Caribbean -- and the South American championships.
A graduate student in management science and engineering, Korolev placed fourth at the NCAA Championships in November and will compete in the outdoor track and field season for Stanford. Korolev had qualified for the U.S. team through his sixth-place performance at the U.S. Championships on Feb. 7 in Boulder, Colorado. He also will run in the IAAF World Championships in Guiyang, China, on March 28.
In Colombia, Korolev paced the U.S. team to three top-five finishes and five among the top 10. The U.S. scored 15 points to earn a commanding victory over runner-up Ecuador, with 52.
