Weekend Recap: 2024 NAIA Cross Country Conference Championships

The best season is the postseason.

We’re officially in that realm in NAIA Cross Country.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard

Conference Championships Weekend never disappoints.

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You probably want to know two things: how the top-10 of the most recent NAIA National Coaches’ Polls fared and what were the two biggest meets of the weekend. Well, we got you covered.

How The Top-10 Fared
Men’s National Coaches’ Poll			Women’s National Coaches’ Poll
Team	Result		Team	Result
No. 1 College of Idaho	Cascade champion		No. 1 Taylor (Ind.)	Crossroads champion
No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.)	AAC champion		No. 2 Milligan (Tenn.)	AAC champion
No. 3 The Master’s (Calif.)	GSAC champion		No. 3 Saint Mary (Kan.)	KCAC champion
No. 4 Oklahoma City	Sooner champion		No. 4 The Master’s (Calif.)	GSAC champion
No. 5 Saint Mary (Kan.)	KCAC champion		No. 5 Montreat (N.C.)	AAC runner-up
No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan	Crossroads runner-up		No. 6 College of Idaho	Cascade champion
No. 7 Cumberlands (Ky.)	Mid-South champion		No. 7 Cumberlands (Ky.)	Mid-South champion
No. 8 Rio Grande (Ohio)	River States runner-up		No. 8 Dordt (Iowa)	GPAC champion
No. 9 Spring Arbor (Mich.)	Crossroads champion		No. 9 Grace (Ind.)	Crossroads runner-up
No. 10 Taylor (Ind.)	Crossroads 3rd place		No. 10 Southern Oregon	Cascade runner-up

Cascade Conference Championships

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Men’s 8k

No. 1 team led by an undefeated runner is a good combination.

The College of Idaho and Daniel Butler proved so.

Butler won for the fourth time in four races this year, clocking 24:12.9 to win here by 16.9 seconds over Justin Ash of Eastern Oregon. The win was Butler’s first CCC title after being runner-up last year.

The Coyotes – winning for the first time since 2021 – were dominant as third-placer Elias Everist gave the Yotes four in the top-6 and six in the top-10. The national rankings took a minor hit but showed the Cascade’s strength as No. 13 Eastern Oregon was runner-up with 59 points ahead of No. 11 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) with 88.

Women’s 6k

Make it seven straight for the reigning national champions.

Led by individual champ Kahea Figueira, the College of Idaho won their seventh team crown in a row with 25 points. It wasn’t their lowest total ever during that span, but their winning margin of 58 points certainly was as No. 10 Southern Oregon and No. 18 Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) were next, both tallying 83 points with the Raiders earning the tiebreaker 3-2.

Figueira won by 19.5 seconds in 21:53.9. It was a fourth team title for her, and she knows the number 4 well in a different manner. Until this year, she was often the Yotes’ No. 4 runner – including last year in taking fifth in this meet as well on the national title-winning team in placing seventh overall. Ditto in the 2022 and 2021 CCC Championships (even when she was fourth overall in ’22).

Crossroads League Championships

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Men’s 8k

Eli Fullerton of Indiana Wesleyan got the win.

No. 9 Spring Arbor (Mich.) got the last laugh.

Fullerton cruised to the individual title on Friday in 24:52.7, nearly ten seconds faster than runner-up Dean Reynolds of Spring Arbor (Mich.). That was Fullerton’s third consecutive win and his fourth overall of the season. Fullerton previously took top individual honors at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge, the Ray Bullock Invitational, and the IWU Twilight XC Invitational.

The ninth-ranked Cougars, with Reynolds up front, were able to spring the upset on the sixth-ranked Fullerton-led Wildcats. Spring Arbor (Mich.) went 2-7-10-16-23 for 58 points, ten fewer than Indiana Wesleyan. The Wildcats only had one runner in the top-10, which was Fullerton.

Women’s 6k

Jaynie Halterman and Taylor (Ind.) can’t be stopped.

Halterman continued her undefeated freshman season with an individual title at the Crossroads League Championships as she covered the 6k course in 20:36.9 – nearly 34 seconds faster than the closest competitor. That time was also one minute, 16 seconds quicker than she ran on the same course at the Ray Bullock Invitational in mid-October for her third victory of the year.

The Trojans stacked the top-10 with three athletes behind Halterman: Ahna Neideck in third; Noel VanderWall in fourth; and Samantha Patterson in ninth. When Abby Mays crossed the finish line in 12^th place, that wrapped up an emphatic 29-79 victory for the nation’s top-ranked squad over No. 9 Grace (Ind.) and three other top-15 teams nationally.

Other Meets of Interest

AAC Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS OF THE MEET

Milligan (Tenn.) swept the team titles in Knoxville, Tennessee, but it wasn’t a walk in the park for two of the nation’s best teams.

Bryn Woodall led the second-ranked men’s team with the ultimate low stick, as he traversed the 8k course in 23:56.4. Behind Woodall, Milligan (Tenn.) athletes went 4-6-7-8 for 26 total points, 17 fewer than runner-up No. 15 Montreat (N.C.).

Milligan (Tenn.)’s top-ranked women’s team had to fend off Montreat (N.C.) for the second meet in a row. Heather Murphy gave the Cavaliers one point with her individual title in 20:33.5, yet the Buffs canvassed the finish line with five athletes in the top-10 led by Alyssa Bearzi in third place. Milligan (Tenn.) ultimately beat Montreat (N.C.), 31-34.

GSAC Championships

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS OF THE MEET

The acronym GSAC is the same, but the Great Southwest Athletic Conference was formerly known as the Golden State Athletic Conference.

No change in the winners, however, with The Master’s (Calif.) serving as the host for a second-straight year in Santa Clarita, Calif.

The Mustangs easily retained both team crowns, with the No. 3 men’s squad scoring 21 points over the 38 points by No. 14 Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) and the No. 4 women’s unit notching just 17 points over the 48 points by No. 11 Embry-Riddle.

Repeat individual titles went to Mustangs as well: Hannah Fredericks – who won her fourth women’s race of the season, this time by 28.6 seconds as she clocked 21:29.7 for 6k – and Jack Anderson, who claimed the men’s 8k title by 16.6 seconds in 24:00.4.