Merritt Suenram is entering into his third season as the head coach of the MACU cross country and track & field teams after the program was re-established before the 2023 season.
In 2024, the MACU cross country program was elevated to new heights as the men's team posted their best ever finish at the NCCAA National Championships on Nov. 15 after placing fourth of the 11 teams in the meet while also notching a fourth place finish at the SAC Championships the week before on Nov. 9. Not only did freshman Jaden Rodriguez become the program's first All-Sooner Athletic Conference honoree with an eighth-place finish in the SAC meet and NCCAA All-American in the NCCAA Nationals after finishing in sixth, but he became the first MACU cross country runner in program history to receive an invite to the NAIA National Championships.
The MACU Women's Cross Country team also put together its best ever finish in the SAC Championships after placing fifth as a team while Gracie Sanders became the program's first multiple All-SAC and NCCAA All-American recipient after placing third in both meets.
2024-25 was the first year that the men's program competed during the track & field season, competing primarily in distance events. Mohamed Zairi became the program's first All-SAC honoree after tallying a third-place finish in the 800-meter while both Zairi and Rodriguez garnered NCCAA All-America accolades after both runners finished in third in the 800-meter and 5000-meter events at the NCCAA National Championships on May 8-9.
In his first season at the helm in 2023, the men's cross country program put together its most outstanding year in its existence as the Evangels captured a fourth place finish at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship at Eldon Lyon Park in Bethany, Oklahoma on Nov. 4, its best ever team finish in the league's title race. The men's team also qualified for its first ever NCCAA National Championship race and put together a strong showing at the Warsaw Community High School Cross Country Course in Warsaw, Indiana on Nov. 10 as the Evangels placed seventh out of 12 teams in the meet.
On the women's side, the Evangels placed sixth at the SAC Championships as a team while Gracie Sanders headlined the squad by earning not only the program's first All-SAC honor after placing 10th in the SAC Championship race, but also recorded the program's first NCCAA All-American honor after placing sixth at the NCCAA National Championships.
Before coming to MACU, Suenram previously served as a teacher at Newcastle Middle School and currently serves as the youth minister at Council Road Baptist Church in Bethany, Oklahoma. At Newcastle Middle School, Suenram was the head coach of the boys' and girls' cross country teams and the assistant coach for the high school team in 2021.
In 2019, Suenram founded Elite Running, a program that coached, developed and mentored 22 athletes across Oklahoma, six of whom earned cross country collegiate scholarships.
As a cross country and track & field student-athlete, Suenram competed for Southern Nazarene, an NCAA Division II program in Bethany, Oklahoma, where he earned several Great American Conference academic awards while primarily competing in the 800-meter run and 4x400-meter relay.
Suenram graduated from Southern Nazarene in 2019 with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Physical Education.
