STILLWATER, Okla. (November 19, 2022) – The Northern Arizona cross country teams had an extremely successful day at the NCAA National Championships. The men defended their title as National Champions, winning their third consecutive title. The women had their best finish since 1991 as they placed sixth overall. This is only the fourth time in program history that both teams have placed in the top-10, and the first time that both teams have placed in the top-6.
The men won their third consecutive National Championship, and their sixth title in the past seven years.
Nico Young and
Drew Bosley took an early lead, breaking off from the pack with Stanford's Charles Hicks. Ultimately Young took second place with a time of 28:44.5, with Bosley close behind in third with a time of 28:55.9. This is the second time in school history that NAU has had runners place second and third. In 2017, Matthew Baxter finished second with Tyler Day in third en route to winning the team title. Young also becomes the third Lumberjack to place second at the national meet, with Baxter doing so in 2017 and David McNeill taking second in 2009.
Santiago Prosser played an important role in the Lumberjack's victory, finishing nineteenth with a time of 29:19.5.
Brodey Hasty ran a time of 29:27.2 to take 25
th place, with
George Kusche finishing 39
th while running a 29:34.9.
All five NAU scorers earned All-American honors. Young and Bosley both earned their third All-American honors, with Hasty and Kusche earning their second.
Also running but not scoring were
Ryan Raff and
Colin Sahlman. Raff saw his highest ever National Championships finish in his last race as a Lumberjack. He placed 88
th with a time of 30:08.6. Raff has now been a member of four National Championship winning teams while at NAU, running in 2018, 2020, and 2021. Sahlman finished 151
st in his first National Championships appearance, running a time of 30:37.0.
The men scored a total of 83 points, initially tying with No. 4 Oklahoma State but winning on the tie-break. No. 3 BYU finished third, with No. 1 Stanford taking fourth place.
The women also had a strong race, seeing their second highest finish in both school history and Big Sky history.
Elise Stearns led NAU once again, finishing fourth with a time of 19:43.9 to earn her first ever All-American honor.
Annika Reiss came next for the Lumberjacks, placing 47
th with a time of 20:16.0.
Jesselyn Bries took 67
th place with a time of 20:24.1, while
Bryn Morley finished 95
th with a time of 20:36.6.
Alexis Kebbe rounded out the scoring for NAU, coming in at 99
th with a time of 20:37.2. Also running were
Taryn O'Neill and
Meagan Van Pelt. O'Neill ran a time of 20:39.9 to finish 106
th, with Van Pelt placing 112
th with a time of 20:42.8.
The women scored a total of 257 points to finish in sixth place. They followed No. 1 NC State, No. 2 New Mexico, No. 5 Alabama, No. 3 Oklahoma State, and No. 13 North Carolina.
Both teams saw strong team efforts, with their hard work this season paying off in a big way.
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