Billings, Mont. – The Saints Cross Country Women won their 4th Frontier Cross Country Championship in five years while the Saints Cross Country Men placed 2nd, closing the gap in total team time towards No. 6 Rocky Mountain College.

 

Carroll's women scored 58 points to beat No. 17 Montana Tech who scored 65 points for 2nd. The Saints garnered four All-Conference selections with four women finishing in a row led by Ryah O'Dell in 9th then Annie Emmerich (10th), Madalen Shipman (11th), and Jayna Boonstra (12th). 

 

The Carroll men scored 50 points, losing only to a strong Rocky squad who scored 38 on the day. The men also brought home four All-Conference selections led by Oliver Morris in 5th. Seniors Brycen Gardner (6th) and Zack Gacnik (8th) each earned their 3rd lifetime cross country All-Conference awards while Jack Jensen (14th) had a breakout day earning his 1st.

 

Solid conditions and strong competition led to multiple personal records for the Saints. On the men's side Jensen, Luke Decker, and Tanner Joyce ran their best 8k times ever. For the women, Shipman, Boonstra, Nikki Nau, Amelia Mayes, Sophie Sestrich, Mya Badger, Emma Horspool, and Emma Decker ran their fastest times over 6k.

 

"The execution and depth of purpose on the part of both teams today was really impressive," said Head Coach Shannon Flynn. "It was fun to see the athletes excited for each other and most focused on the team outcome."

 

The women earned an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships with their win. "The trajectory of improvement and growth this season has been fun to watch," said Coach Flynn. "The women are a good blend of veterans and newcomers, and the experience and energy of that has created a great dynamic."

 

With the 2nd place finish, the men will not receive an automatic berth to the NAIA Championships for the first time since 2020. However, the men are currently ranked No. 20 which would be likely to receive an at-large bid. With a total team time comparable to last year and closer to Rocky than several weeks ago, it would be reasonable for their ranking to remain similar to close out the season.

 

"The men showed courage and put themselves in the positions they needed to today to give themselves a chance," said Coach Flynn. "Rocky is a great team who has been on a roll this season, but we continue to be learning and putting pieces together that we hope we get to to use in a few weeks."

Luke Decker and Madalen Shipman were selected as Carroll's Champions of Character, while Shannon Flynn was voted Frontier Women's Coach of the Year.

 

Full results are available at this LINK.

 

The Saints women will compete on Friday November 21 at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships. The men will wait for national rankings to come out with announcements of at-large qualifiers on Tuesday November 11 at 3:00 pm Mountain Time. Oliver Morris and Brycen Gardner will race regardless at the men's championships as one of the top 4 individuals in the Frontier's top 15 not on an automatic qualifying team.

 

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