“I was looking forward to this NCCAA race all season,” said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. “As a coach, I was anxious to see how my runners would use their training to finish out the year and compete against excellent competition from across the nation. I was pleased with the results and the determination that I saw from all of my runners. We stuck together as a team and finished out a memorable third season.”

In the men’s race, Malone University, the No. 1 team in the NAIA all season, captured its 19th NCCAA national title by finishing with 45 points to edge out Indiana Wesleyan University (68 points), Cedarville (78 points), and Taylor (Ind.) University (89 points). Bethel (Ind.) College (168) and Dallas Baptist (Texas) University (188) each finished ahead of MVNU (191 points), but the seventh-place finish for the Cougars was their best ever after coming in 13th in 2006 and 10th in 2007.

Michael Pabody of Taylor earned the individual national title in a time of 25:38.2 to edge Josh Foss of Indiana Wesleyan (25:49.2) by 11 seconds in the eight-kilometer race. After finishing 21st in last year’s NCCAA race, junior Mark Porostosky (above) became the first MVNU runner to earn NCCAA All-American status when he finished eighth out of 126 runners in a time of 26:31.4. Freshman Nate Winters (27:42.1, 30th), sophomore Zach Stiverson (28:53.2, 47th), freshman Blake Heinlen (29:03.4, 53rd), sophomore David Clark (30:04.2, 70th), and freshman Jameson Seymour (30:43.3, 81st) rounded out the scoring for MVNU.

“We talked about improving on our individual performance all season,” said Wilson. “Even though the weather was a difficult challenge, I thought we ran a great race. We are starting to turn some heads with our times and team performances, and I think we are headed in the right direction. Watching Mark cross the finish line gave me chills because he has worked extremely hard to reach this point in his running and he can now be recognized as an All-American runner. We have many other runners who are committed to improving, and I look for those individuals to have a breakout season as well in the near future.””

In the women’s race, NAIA No. 1 Cedarville University won the 18-team event for the third straight year and the eighth time overall with 23 points as the Lady Jackets had five of the top seven individual finishers. Dallas Baptist (74 points), Indiana Wesleyan (90 points), Spring Arbor (Mich.) University (119 points), and Bethel (125 points) rounded out the top five, while the Lady Cougars finished with 450 points in 17th place.

Nicole Santos of Cedarville, won the individual national title after finishing as the runner-up last year as she covered the five-kilometer course in 18:24.3 to finish just over nine seconds ahead of runner-up Hannah Steffan (18:33.5) of Dallas Baptist. Freshman Katelyn Felger (right) was the top finisher for MVNU as she came in 79th out of 139 runners in a personal best time of 21:51.6. Freshman Caitlin Campbell (21:57.8, 81st), freshman Heidi Raidel (22:52.7, 93rd), freshman Lauren Ford (23:50.0, 104th), freshman Nikki Yates (25:03.3, 117th), freshman DeAnna Hardeman (26:25.6, 125th), and junior Brittany Click (30:06.8, 135th) rounded out the lineup for MVNU.

“As we finish out the third season of our cross country program, I think about how far we have come in such a short time,” said Wilson. “It is exciting to think about the future of this program. I am committed to making this team a conference and national contender, and I will do what I can to work for my runners and the university.”

While the season is over from a team standpoint for both the MVNU men’s and women’s cross country teams, Porostosky will have one more race left when he competes at the NAIA National Championship in Kenosha, Wis. The race will take place on Saturday at the Dr. Wayne E. Dannehl Cross Country Course and starts at 11:45 a.m. CST. Porostosky was one of 111 individual qualifiers for the race that also includes 32 teams. He is the first MVNU runner to qualify for the NAIA National Championship.