Men's Cross Country Qualifies For NCCAA Nationals
(Waverly, IA) - The Faith men's cross country team qualified for NCCAA Nationals on Saturday, beating the qualifying time by 9 minutes.
The Eagles took part in the Dan Huston Invite on Saturday, with both teams posting faster scores than the previous week.
The Faith women ran their final 6k of the season, improving on their times from the Viking Invitational. Carlie Blevins once again led the squad in her fourth top 25 finish of the year, finishing her race in 24:34.2. Becca Hulinsky (26:16.8), Lydia Mueller (28:52.7), Karynna Ward (30:32.3), and Alees Stephens (32:41.0) all posted season highs, and Elizabeth Beenken (33:52.4) and Jenessa Anderson (37:32.8) came close to beating their previous times. The Eagles look to race fast as they return to competing in 5Ks the rest of the season.
Every runner on the men's team posted a season or career high in their national qualifying race, posting a total team time of 2:51:34. Owen Festler (32:22.0), and Titus Loween (32:22.1) finished less than a second apart to lead the charge for the Eagles. The rest of the team finished within 23 seconds of each other, posting times of 35:26.1 (Ethan Smith), 35:35.4 (Andrew Hackley), and 35:48.8 (Ben Hackley). The all around stellar performance by the Eagles allows them to take their final three races as final tune ups before the National meet on November 15th in Warsaw, IN.
Up Next: Faith Cross Country will race in the Indian Hills Invitational in Ottumwa, IA on Friday, October 11th at 4:00 PM (Women), and 4:45 PM (Men).