VANCOUVER, Wash. - Head Coach
Nate Van Holten is set to lead both the men's and women's cross country programs into the NAIA Nationals on Friday, November 22 in Vancouver, Washington. 37 teams will compete on both the men's and women's sides with 81 individual qualifiers on the men's side and 89 on the women's side. The men will run an 8k race first at 1:30 p.m. EST and be followed by the women's 5k at 2:30 p.m. EST. The awards ceremony will then be streamed live immediately following the conclusion of the women's race with the link provided above.
- This is the sixth year that the championship will be hosted in Vancouver, Wash. The Cascade Collegiate Conference serves as the host for the national championship.
- The women's field is made up of 25 automatic qualifiers, one host berth and 11 at-large berths while the men's field is made up of 24 automatic qualifiers, one host berth, and 12 at-large berths. A team can automatically qualify by winning the conference championship meet or by being the meet runner-up (for conferences with more than one automatic qualifier) that is ranked in the Top 30 final poll.
- Northwest (Wash.) received the men's host berth and Warner Pacific (Ore.) received the women's.
- The 2018 men's cross country national champions, Oklahoma City, returns to the championship.
- The 2018 women's cross country champions, Oregon Tech, returns to the championships.
- The Cornerstone men return for their fifth consecutive appearance while the women return for the second consecutive season.
- In 2018 Colin De Young was named the individual National Champion on the men's side, the first ever Golden Eagle to win the national title.
- The Golden Eagle women tied their best finish in program history at the NAIA National Championships in 2018, finishing 15th overall.
- Joey DeBoer, Colin DeYoung, and Kelli Smith all earned All-American honors in 2018.
- The men earned an automatic bid after winning the WHAC Tournament Championship, while the women were an at-large bid.
- Fans can watch the post-race awards ceremony free. The national championship event takes place on Nov. 22. To access the live video stream of the ceremony, CLICK HERE.
