Helena, Mont. – Carroll's Cross Country program will be represented by both teams at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, Fla. on Friday November 21.

 

Saints Recap

 

The Saints women won the Frontier Conference Championship two weeks ago to earn an automatic bid to the National Championships. This marked their 4th of 5 years winning the Frontier meet. Ryah O'Dell, Annie Emmerich, Madalen Shipman, and Jayna Boonstra were All-Conference selections for the women.

 

Carroll's men placed second to a tough Rocky Mountain squad at the Frontier Championship meet. Oliver Morris, Brycen Gardner, Zack Gacnik, and Jack Jensen placed in the Top 15 for All-Conference. Last week, the men received an At-Large bid to the National Meet.

 

Preview

 

For the women, it will be a completely new group to the National Meet for cross country. O'Dell, Emmerich, Shipman, Boonstra, Olivia Gaugel, Ariel Brewer, Nikki Nau, and Audrey vanWestrienen will travel to the meet to race. Shipman and Nau will bring valuable experience after competing at Nationals last spring in track. The women ranked No. 20 in the final polls.

 

The men's team also ranked No. 20 in the final ratings. Morris, Gardner, Gacnik, Jensen, Conrad Schruth, Daniel Koralewski, Luke Decker, and Logan Anderson will head to Florida for the Saints. Morris, Gardner, Gacnik, Koralewski, and Decker were part of the travel squad who placed 12th at Nationals last fall.

 

Both teams will be up against a deep, competitive 36 team field of Conference winners and at-large selections including familiar Frontier competition in No. 7 Rocky for the men and No. 21 Montana Tech for the women.

 

"This is the really fun part where it's a completely fresh slate and anything can happen," said Head Coach Shannon Flynn. "There's so much intention and work - so many choices and actions - that the athletes put into this," she added. "We've built momentum and grown all season, so we're really excited to enjoy being out there and to get to see what we can do."

 

The women's 6k race will begin at 8:30 am Eastern at Apalachee Regional Park while the men's 8k race will start at 9:30 am. An awards ceremony will follow.

 

Live results will be available at this LINK.

 

A free livestream of the meet is available HERE.

 

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