Southern Oregon finished fourth at the NAIA Men's Cross Country Championships, the highest finish in Raider history.
SOU Harriers Place 4th at NAIA Championships
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KENOSHA, Wis. -- Led by a pair of All-Americans, the Southern Oregon men's cross country team finished fourth at today's NAIA National Championships here.
The Raiders wrapped up the program's best-ever National finish with 197 points. Malone won the team event with 61 points, followed by Azusa Pacific (118), Aquinas (194) and Southern Oregon.
Southern Oregon entered the National Championships ranked fourth in the Nation, the highest ranking ever by an SOU cross country team.
"I can't be anymore happy than I am right now," SOU Head Coach Brent Ericksen said. "This has been a special ride with these guys. They've come a long way. I'm so proud."
Seniors Anthony Monteleone and Cameron Kreuz both claimed All-American honors for the Raiders.
Monteleone finished 16th in a time of 25:04 and Kreuz finished 21st in 25:08.
"That's the first time Anthony has been our No. 1 runner," Ericksen said. "He ran a heck of a race. He knew it was his last race and he ran an awesome race. He was really aggressive and really wanted it badly. Cameron ran a really good race as well. It was a challenging course and getting two All-Americans set us up to get a trophy."
Joe Rath just missed out on All-American honors, finishing 33rd in a time of 25:34.
SOU's other team points came from David Laney (47th, 25:42) and Ryan Gelfi (80th, 26:07).
"I think we handled the conditions pretty well," Ericksen said. "It was 35 degrees when the race started, which is warmer than it was all day Friday."
Chris Patterson (152nd, 27:17) and Ryan Matz (157th, 27:24) wrapped up SOU's effort.
Azusa Pacific won the women's NAIA National Championship.