The men's and Women's Cross Country teams concluded their seasons competing at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships (November 12th) and Half Marathon Championships (November 15th). The events were highlighted by Naomi Salil who earned 10th overall in the Women's Half-Marathon Championship on Tuesday morning, earning herself Coaches Association All-America honors. Naomi is the first Panther to ever earn All-America honors in the Half Marathon and is now the school record holder in the event. The women placed 10th overall as a team and the men 17th.
In the Cross Country Championships Naomi also lead the ladies with a 40th place finish to help the team to finish the season as a top 25 team in 21st place. On the Men's side Freshman Hayden Stutzman lead the way for the men finishing 115th overall in the National field to help the men secure a 25th place finish and a top 25 ranking to conclude the season.
Head Coach Trey Bruton had this to say of the Cross Country events, "We were really disappointed with ourselves after the Cross Country Championships on Saturday, we absolutely fell flat and just did not preform how we wanted to and were capable of. After the race it was a very somber feeling for everyone as we couldn't really believe what had happened and what went wrong. The weather was a challenge as it was quite warm and humid at race time but everyone was dealing with it so we didn't really have any excuse, we just didn't take care of business like we should have. As a coach I learned some things from the event that will make us better for the future, it was just unfortunate that it couldn't have helped this group finish how we wanted to. I am still really proud of all we accomplished this season. We pretty much rewrote the entire individual performance record book this season, earned team rankings for the first time ever, and finished the season ranked on both sides. We can keep our heads high and be proud of what we accomplished, I am very proud of this team!"
Coach Bruton continued on about the Half Marathon events, " I am glad that we bounced back like we did in the Half Marathon race. After the disappointment of our performances in the Cross Country Championships I was worried it might trickle over to the Half Marathon as a 13.1 mile race can seem a bit daunting. We really did a good job to regroup and push the performance from Saturday out of our minds. This is a unique event at the collegiate level and we took advantage of the opportunity to compete. It was really nice to see all of Naomi's hard work pay off and earn herself a Coaches Association All-America award, in the middle of the race she looked so strong I thought she might be able to challenge for a top 5 spot even. Our athletes were a joy to watch compete and I can't wait until we get the opportunity to do it again."
The Panther Cross Country athletes will now join the Track & Field athletes and look towards the Indoor Track & Field season that will begin in January. Original source can be found here.
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