BETHANY, Okla. – The MACU Cross Country teams made history at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships at Eldon Lyon Park on Saturday morning as Gracie Sanders became MACU's first ever women's runner to become an NAIA National Championship qualifier while Jaden Rodriguez was also not only the program's first All-SAC honoree, but also first NAIA national qualifier.
In the women's 6k event, Sanders blazed the fastest time in MACU Cross Country history, crossing the finish line in 23:07.49, breaking her own program record of 23:36.46 set the Southwestern Mid-States Classic on Oct. 21, 2023. The placement allowed her to finish third in the event, finishing only behind Oklahoma City's Louise Cocking and Erika Pena.
Sanders is now a two-time All-SAC honoree after finishing 10th at last year's SAC Championship at Eldon Lyon Park, blowing away her time of 24:06.10 set at last year's title meet.
As a team, the women's squad finished a spot better than last year's SAC meet, placing fifth with 164 points, three points ahead of a well-established cross country program in Texas Wesleyan.
Brooklyn Atnip was MACU's second-best finisher in the event, as her time of 27:16.7 finished 39th of 73 runners while posting the sixth-fastest time in MACU's 6k record book and the top time from anyone besides Sanders.
Ainsley Velasquez and Jacqueline Torres also posted MACU 6k top 10 times in the meet, as Velasquez crossed the line with the eighth-fastest time and career-best 27:54.27 to place 45th while the time for Torres was a 28:23.76, the 10th fastest on MACU's list for 48th place.
On the men's side, Rodriguez put together the best 8k run in MACU Men's Cross Country history as his eighth-place time of 25:16.1 not only shattered his own program record of 25:55.0 at the DBU Old Glory Gallop earlier this season, but it also allowed him to become MACU's first All-SAC honoree as well as first NAIA National Qualifier.
In the 85-runner event, Alexander Pebeahsy and Aidan Collins ran well by placing 22nd and 23rd respectively with times of 27:10.7 and 27:13.9 to net the Evangels 19 and 20 points as a team.
Connor Gerth was MACU's next-best finisher in 31st place with a time of 27:47.0 while Cameron Pearson rounded out the Evangels' top five with a 38th place finish of 28:31.1.
As a team, Mid-America Christian placed fourth out of 11 teams with 104 total points.
Mid-America Christian will now make its preparations for the NCCAA National Championships that will take place once again at the Warsaw Community High School Cross Country Course in Warsaw, Indiana on Nov. 15. The women's 5k championship will take place at 9 a.m. EST (8 a.m. CST) while the men's 8k title race will be at 10:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. CST).
The NAIA National Championships will take place on Nov. 22 at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Missouri with the men's 8k race taking place at 10:30 a.m. before the women's 6k takes place at 11:30 a.m.
