WARSAW, Ind. – In their first ever NCCAA National Championship event, the MACU cross country teams put together an outstanding showing in their first season back in 13 years as Gracie Sanders became the first women's cross country runner in program history to earn NCCAA All-American honors while the men's team placed seventh at the Warsaw Community High School Cross Country Course on Friday morning.
In the women's 5000-meter race, Sanders crossed the finish line in 19:13.30 to finish in sixth-place in the 57-runner field as her top 10 finish garnered her the All-American accolade. The mark set by Sanders is just the second sub-20 minute 5k ever run by a women's cross country runner and sits only behind her own record of 18:44.30 set at the Dallas Baptist Old Glory Gallop on Oct. 7.
As a team, the MACU men's cross country team scored 214 position points, placing 15 ahead of College of the Ozarks for the No. 7 spot.
Mason Baker continued to pace the Evangels with a 18th-place time of 26:42.50, running his second-fastest 8000-meter race and the third-fastest 8k time in program history, sitting only behind Baker's record mark set at the DBU Old Glory Gallop (26:18.00) and just barely behind Abraham Busienei's mark at the Missouri Southern Stampede on Sept. 19, 2009 (26:39.67).
Jason McKamie was MACU's second-best finisher in the 100-runner field, crossing the finish line in 46th at 28:37.2, just 10 seconds off from reaching his personal record. Ryland Baker finished close behind in 48th place with a time of 28:42.7.
Despite competing with an Achilles injury, Jackson White was still able to put together a solid finish, scoring a 54th place time of 29:04.7 while Ethan Hillis rounded out MACU's scoring with a time of 30:12.2 for 72nd place.
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Women's 5000-Meter Results (57 runners)
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Name
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Place
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Time
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Points
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Gracie Sanders
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6th
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19:13.3
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N/A
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