Men's Cross Country | 11/23/24 | 1:47 PM
Columbia, Mo. – The Saints Cross Country Men placed 12th at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships on Friday, their highest finish since 2015.
The Saints ran their fastest total team time ever over 8k. They edged Lewis-Clark State by 9 points to earn the 12th position in the race, and they followed Eastern Oregon University who placed 11th. Rocky Mountain College placed 24th. The Saints narrowly qualified for the National Meet, beating Rocky by only 1 point at the Frontier Conference Championships and setting up the great story and day at Nationals.
"This was such a fun day and there is nothing better than seeing these athletes get to soak it up together," said Head Coach Shannon Flynn. "I'm just so proud of how the men kept believing and stayed relentless through the difficulties, not just this season but over the past 6 years as they've worked to build the program."
The team was paced by Zack Gacnik who placed 18th overall and earned Carroll's first cross country All-American status since Reghan Worley in 2021. Oliver Morris and Connor O'Hara also broke the Top 100 in 67th and 74th respectively.
Gacnik equaled his personal record on a course made difficult by its constant turns and slight grade. Morris ran a personal best while O'Hara ran just a few seconds off his best time ever to cap off his stellar career. Daniel Koralewski had a breakout day, scoring 4th for the Saints, moving up 42 places in the second half, and setting a personal record en route. Brycen Gardner rounded out the scoring in 5th for the Saints with Peter Rehberger close on his heels - Rehberger's race was a personal record.
At the close of season, four Saints from this year's squad sit in Carroll's Top 10 cross country times list: Gacnik, O'Hara, Morris, and Gardner. Koralewski sits on the edge of the list and will return for a 5th fall next year to wrap up his eligibility. Zach Rector is also just outside the Top 10, and he closed out a tremendous career this season by maintaining his consistent leadership despite an injury early in the fall.
"I'm feeling really grateful for this whole team and the efforts and sacrifices they've made, but in particular today for Connor [O'Hara] and Zach [Rector]," said Coach Flynn. "The way they bought into our vision from the start and committed to staying this 5th year makes this outcome extra special."
Isabelle Ruff and Hannah Sempf competed in the women's 6k race, placing 175th and 210th out of 326 runners. Sempf moved up a few spots from 212th last year while Ruff was 120th last season. Although the women didn't set personal records in this particular race, they executed their race plan well of running together for a good portion of the competition. Sempf set lifetime bests in both the 5k and 6k earlier this fall.
"It's tough to generate the same fire to find your edge when you're without the team you were expecting to have around you," said Coach Flynn. "I'm proud of the perspective the women took to be fearless and represent the rest of the group well. They're going to take momentum and learnings forward from this race into the future."
Full results are available at this LINK.
Several Cross Country Saints will join up with the full Track & Field squad for the first indoor meet of the season coming up on December 5 in Bozeman, Mont.
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