USTFCCCA News & Notes
Meet Recap: 2023 NAIA Cross Country Championships
Champions were crowned on Friday at the 2023 NAIA Cross Country Championships!
The meet was held at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington, for the fourth time in the last seven years, and the eighth time total.
From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
Related: National Championships Central | Rankings & Polls Central
2023 NAIA Cross Country Championships – Final Results |
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Men’s Team
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Score
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Women’s Team
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Score
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No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.)
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93
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No. 1 College of Idaho
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68
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No. 4 Saint Mary (Kan.)
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98
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No. 5 The Master’s (Calif.)
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92
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No. 8 Cumberlands (Ky.)
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114
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No. 3 Saint Mary (Kan.)
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133
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No. 3 The Master’s (Calif.)
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156
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No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.)
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145
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No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan
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206
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No. 4 Taylor (Ind.)
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184
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Men’s 8k Race
No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.) regained the national title – but just barely.
The Wildcats – runner-up last year after winning in 2021 – led at every kilometer split to prevail by five points over No. 4 Saint Mary (Kan.), 93 to 98. That 1-2 scoring differential is the closest in meet history since the 1986 race had Adams State and Western Colorado both totaling 78 points.
While Milligan (Tenn.) led throughout, the Spires closed the gap in the last kilometer from 15 points to the final margin of five. Both were strong up front – Saint Mary (Kan.) with individual runner-up Emad Bashir-Mohammed, while Milligan countered with a top-3 of Bryn Woodall (sixth), Aaron Jones (seventh) and Will Stockley (ninth).
No. 8 Cumberlands (Ky.) was third with 114 as the Patriots registered their highest finish after entering a team for the first time since 2008. No. 3 The Master’s (Calif.) (156) and No. 1 Indiana Wesleyan (206) rounded out the top-5.
Individual honors went to Jackson Wilson, who gave Rocky Mountain (Mont.) its first victory in this race. Wilson covered the 8k course in 24:31.8, 9.1 seconds ahead of Joseph Skoog of Bethel (Tenn.). Skoog had earlier caught a fast-starting Bashir-Mohammed at the 5k mark. After Bashir-Mohammed regained the lead, Wilson stormed ahead in the final kilometer. Bashir-Mohammed was third in 24:49.1, followed by Robert Swoboda of Corban (Ore.) (24:50.3) and Serhii Shevchenko of Cumberlands (24:55.7).
Women’s 6k Race
The Yotes finally won it!
A regular high finisher in this meet – runner-up four times since 2012 – No. 1 College of Idaho was unstoppable this year, placing four in the top-7 in scoring 68 points to win by 24 points over No. 5 The Master’s (Calif.), 68 to 92. Ellyse Tingelstad led an impressive charge for College of Idaho, taking runner-up individually and followed by Sage Martin (third), Abbey Shirts (fifth) and Kahea Figueira (seventh). The Yotes were incredibly consistent throughout, registering scores of 71, 70, 70 and 70 points at the 2k, 3k, 4k and 5k checkpoints before cutting two points at the finish.
The Master’s (Calif.), led by tenth-place finisher Hannah Fredericks, was a clear runner-up for its best finish in program history. Third-ranked Saint Mary (Kan.), second-ranked Milligan (Tenn.) and fourth-ranked Taylor (Ind.) rounded out the top-5 with 133 points, 145 points and 184 points, respectively.
Addy Wiley of Huntington (Ind.) was the individual champion, running her first cross country race of the year after earning runner-up honors last year. She covered the 6k – a new distance for the women in NAIA – in 21:04.2 to better Tingelstad by 11.9 seconds. Mollie Gamble of Taylor (Ind.) was fourth between Martin and Shirts.