“Coming off great races at the American Mideast Conference/NAIA Region IX meet, we were very excited about the NCCAA races,” said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. “We know this course very well from previous races and it has the potential of being a fast course. We finished our final week of practice well and going into the races on Saturday the motivation among the team was very high. We were blessed once again with great running weather and we took advantage of this and competed very well.”

In the men’s race, Malone College won its 18th NCCAA national title by finishing first out of 22 teams with 30 points to edge runner-up Indiana Wesleyan University (63 points) and MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) University (91 points). The Cougars were 10th with 281 points after finishing 13th out of 22 teams last year.

Noah Too of MidAmerica Nazarene won the individual title in the men’s eight-kilometer race in a time of 24:45.6 to finish 32 seconds ahead of Simpson (Calif.) College’s Abednego Magut. Sophomore Mark Porostosky led MVNU by finishing 21st in a time of 26:29.3. Freshman Chaz Rice (55th, 27:46.8), freshman Zach Stiverson (65th, 28:14.4), sophomore Zach Tuggle (73rd, 28:37.0), senior Tim Grubb (left) (88th, 29:13.5), sophomore Dustin Wine (95th, 29:33.8), and freshman David Clark (112th, 30:34.0) rounded out the scoring with Stiverson and Clark posting personal bests and Tuggle registering a season-best time.

“The men’s team has steadily improved all season, and they wanted to achieve great success in their final race together,” said Wilson. “I could tell that they were ready to run, and they performed very well. Tim, Zach Stiverson, and Zach Tuggle ran a season best time, while Mark, Chaz, Dustin, and David were not far off their own best times. We improved to 10th this season as a team, which is encouraging for the future.”

In the women’s race, host Cedarville won its second straight NCCAA national title and seventh overall as the Lady Jackets finished with 29 points to beat runner-up Malone (61 points) and Indiana Wesleyan (94 points). The Lady Cougars finished 21st out of 24 teams with 573 points.

Emily LaSala of Indiana Wesleyan won the individual title in the five-kilometer race with a time of 17:59.0 to beat second-place Nicole Santos of Cedarville by nearly 14 seconds. Junior Mallorey Newland led MVNU by finishing 100th in a time of 22:08.3. Sophomore Tessa Swartzentruber (104th, 22:20.1), senior Liz Keffer (114th, 22:57.0), senior Katie Tracy (122nd, 23:21.1), senior Bethany Haught (146th, 26:11.7), senior Kayla Parlin (right) (157th, 28:16.5), and sophomore Brittany Click (160th, 29:26.9) rounded out the scoring with both Haught and Parlin posting new personal bests.

“The women’s team has also shown signs of improvement, especially in the last few weeks of the season,” said Wilson. “They have worked extremely hard to finish the year well, and they deserve the rewards they earned. We knew this would be the last race for our seniors, Katie, Bethany, Kayla, and Liz Keffer, and they should be proud of the way their careers ended. I think with the hard work that Mallorey, Tessa, Brittany, and Liz Bayless have shown this year, we have a bright future at MVNU. I am very proud of each individual and the dedication they have shown to this team.”