NAIA Conference Championships Weekend ::: USTFCCCA
USTFCCCA News and Notices
From USTFCCCA Communications, USTFCCCA
November 5, 2021  
EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll be updating this post all weekend!
All eyes are on Vancouver, Washington!
That’s because we find out which teams received automatic bids – and enable us to get an overall bid – on them 2021 NAIA Cross Country Championships at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on Friday, November 19th.
From the USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meetings & Results | USTFCCCA indicator
The NAIA programs qualify based on graduation from their respective conference championships and their position in the final National Coaches’ Polls, so much has been at stake in the past few days.
Let’s find out what we noticed over the weekend.
Crossroads League Championship
CLICK HERE FOR THE RESULTS OF THE MEET
Men’s 8K Championship
No. 5 Taylor (Ind.) Was overdue – long overdue. None of this year’s Trojans were born the last time Taylor won the Crossroads team title in 1994. Taylor dominated the top of the finish, taking four of the top 8 spots. No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan then had five runners in the finish before Taylor’s No. 5 crossed the finish line, but the Trojans’ top end was enough to win as their 46 points finished off both the IWU’s 56 and third-placed 62 No. 10 Huntington, the defending champion. No. 22 Grace (Ind.) And No. 25 Marian (Ind.) Followed with 115 and 157 respectively.
Huntington’s Haile Stutzman won the Crossroads title he last held in 2019 in 24: 52.5. Steven Ott of Indiana Wesleyan finished second in 25: 00.1, while the top five were Bryan Hernandez-Rios of Grace (25: 01.4) and the Taylor trio of Derek Van Prooyen (25: 02.7), Daniel Gerber (25: 06.3).
Women’s 5K Championship
No. 4 Taylor (Ind.) Easily won ninth place in the league, which is even more impressive as the Crossroads with five rated teams are arguably the deepest in the country. Taylor placed four runners in the top 10 with 41 points. As expected, a close fight for second place did not disappoint. No. 23 Indiana Wesleyan with 91 points defeated No. 15 Grace (Ind.) (114) and No. 18 Huntington (Ind.) For second place, while No. 17 Saint Francis (Ind.) Was fifth with 132 points.
Individually, Alex Ebetino from St. Francis led with a time of 18: 32.1 and 2.4 seconds ahead of runner-up Abbey Brennan from Taylor (18: 34.5). Shelby Christman from Huntington (18: 39.2), Jenna Couwenhoven from Indiana Wesleyan (18: 45.1) and Sydney Lambert from Huntington (18: 45.3) completed the top five.
Cascade Conference Championships
CLICK HERE FOR THE RESULTS OF THE MEET
Men’s 8K Championship
A ranking upheaval was to be expected, and the tough competition did not disappoint. No. 14 College of Idaho won the team title for the third time in four years, beating three other teams before them. But it was tight, because the Yotes’ 52 points were only four points better than the 56 of the number 12 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), the reigning Cascade champion.
Lewis-Clark was the only squad with three in the top 10, but the College of Idaho depth came through with 10-12-14-15 placements behind sole champion Logan Hunt.
Host No. 15 Oregon Tech (73) ousted No. 8 Southern Oregon (76) for the next two positions, followed by No. 20 Eastern Oregon (113) and No. 24 Northwest (Washington) (119). The range of points among the top 6 programs, at 67 points, was the narrowest in the past six years.
Hunt won individual honors in 24: 52.1 over defending champion Cole Olsen from Lewis-Clark (25: 03.6). Kevin VanDyke from Southern Oregon (25: 24.4), Travis Running from Eastern Oregon (25: 26.0) and Clayton VanDyke from Lewis-Clark (25: 29.3) completed the top 5 singles.
Women’s 5K Championship
A triple peat was fine for No. 6 College of Idaho, which placed all five scorers in the top 12 to comfortably win by 33 points. However, only 27 points separated the next four squads, led by No. 13 Southern Oregon (87) and hosts RV Oregon Tech (90) for second place. RV Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) was fourth with 103 points ahead of No. 25 Northwest, Wash. (114), as all top 5 teams had at least one runner in the top 10.
Ellyse Tingelstad from the College of Idaho won the individual title against teammate Sage Martin, 19: 06.3 to 19: 14.4. Shiloh Najjar from Multnomah came third (19: 19.8), followed by Sydnee Kizziar from Southern Oregon (19: 30.1.) And Rebecca Kuskie from Bushnell (19: 31.9).
CCAC championships
CLICK HERE FOR THE RESULTS OF THE MEET
Men’s 8K Championship
There was never any doubt. The front runner St. Francis (Ill.) Drove to the team title on Saturday, brought six runners into the top 8 and rolled to 21 points. Omar Paramo won the individual title for the Saints in 24: 57.9, followed by his teammates Oscar Tejada (third, 25: 24.7) and Noah Friske (fourth, 25: 42.1) in the top five. No. 19 Olivet Nazarene came second with 75 points, followed by St. Ambrose (92), Judson (128) and St. Xavier (148) in third, fourth and fifth.
Women’s 5K Championship
The high-ranking St. Francis (Ill.) Is unstoppable. The Saints made the competition fast on Saturday, scoring a near-perfect score of 17 points. St. Francis went 1-2-3-4 with Sabrina Baftiri in 18: 02.7, Laisha Corona was second in 18: 17.0, Daly Galloway was third with 18: 25.3 and Katerine Bakken was fourth with 18: 28.4. No. 12 Olivet Nazarene finished second behind the Saints with 50 points, followed by St. Xavier (101), Judson (112) and Trinity Christian (128) to round out the top 5.