JOPLIN, Mo. – The MACU Men's Cross Country team continued shattering records at the Missouri Southern Stampede being run at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course on Saturday morning as Mohamed Guled blew by the course record to win the individual medalist while the Evangels as a team supplanted their 8k team team.
 
RESULTS

• Distance: 8000-Meters (8k)
• Number of Teams: 28
• Number of Finishers: 308
• Team Score / Place: 247 / 8^th
• Team Time: 2:09:03
• Scoring Placements
  • Mohamed Guled – 1^st (1) – 23:00.54
  • Mohamed Zairi – 42^nd (37) – 25:49.60
  • Kaydon Payne – 50^th (43) – 25:59.43
  • Teagan Nelson – 98^th (75) – 26:54.20
  • Slade Strunk – 122^nd (91) – 27:19.59

RACE SUMMARY

• After breaking the course record at the Rogers State Distance After Dark two years ago, junior Mohamed Guled broke yet another course record, this time coming at the illustrious Missouri Southern Stampede at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course. The previous record was held by Vincent Kiprop, a MSSU runner that posted a 23:18 at the 2016 race.
• Guled also annihilated MACU's previous 8k record that was held by Jaden Rodriguez, bettering the time by more than two minutes after Rodriguez ran a 25:16.10 at SAC Championship in 2024.
• With the result, Guled set by far and away the fastest 8k time in the NAIA so far this season with the previous best of 23:54.6 being notched by Madonna (Mich.) runner Mehdi Nait Hamoud at Friday's 2026 National Catholic Invitational.
• Completing his first race of the 2026 season, Mohamed Zairi was MACU's second-best finisher, crossing the finish line in 25:49.60 to place 42^nd in the meet consisting of more than 300 runners. It was his second-fastest 5k time in his two years of competing in cross country at MACU.
• Running in his first collegiate 8k, Kaydon Payne posted a 50^th place finish with a time of 25:59.43, making it the fifth-best personal best 8k time of any MACU Cross Country runner in program history.
• Teagan Nelson scored MACU's fourth-best finish with a time of 26:54.20 to notch 75 points with his 98^th place finish in his first collegiate 8k. Freshman Slade Strunk rounded out MACU's scorers with a 122^nd place time of 27:19.59 to net MACU 91 points.
• The trio of Cameron Pearson, Aidan Collins, and Jackson Greenway finished consecutively from 128^th-130^th with times of 27:26.97, 27:30.31, and 27:30.96.
• The 8k team time of 2:09:03 just barely eclipsed the team's previous 8k record that was set at last year's Missouri Southern Stampede when MACU's top five notched a 2:09:41. It was a sensational result even with MACU's No. 2 runner Abdulsalam Farah pulling out of the race due to an injury precaution.
• With the race being the first 8k for the Evangels this season, it easily qualified for the NCCAA National Championships.
• Overall, the Evangels notched the second-best team score of the NAIA teams competing in the race and were the best finisher from the Sooner Athletic Conference with College of the Ozarks placing 15^th (456), Southwestern Christian notching 19^th (531), and Nelson finishing 28^th (768).

UP NEXT

• Mid-America Christian will get some rest and recovery time before it competes at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by John Brown University in Siloam Springs. The race will once again take place at Pollard's Field with race times yet to be determined.