Wingate Men's Cross Country Wins First National Championship in Program History
JOPLIN, M.O. – Wingate Men's Cross Country came out on top at the 2023 DII Men's Cross Country National Championship, marking the first title in program history and the third NCAA team title in school history. The Bulldogs recorded 70 points to secure the victory.
Five Bulldogs earned All-American honors with top-30 finishes. Hamza Chahid led the way for the 'Dogs, finishing fourth with a 10K time of 29.15.3. Soheil Boufrizi followed in tenth while Ricardo Barbosa took 24th, Cas Kopmels finished 26th, and Titouan Le Grix claimed 29th.
The Catawba Men's Cross Country team had their best finish in school history Saturday at the 2023 NCAA II Cross Country Championships. They finished in 22nd place out of 34 teams. This was the second year in school history that the program qualified as a team. In 2021 the team finished in 33rd. Junior Oussama Ajala led the men with a top 100 finish coming in 95th place with a time of 31:07.8. Graduate Erick Ramirez finished 118th with a time of 31:21.6 and teammate Tanner Smith followed just after Ramirez in 120th with a finish of 31:25.6.
Only three seconds separated the Wingate University women's cross country teams' top three runners as the Bulldogs finished eighth in the NCAA Division II national championship meet at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course Saturday. Wingate moved eight spots up the proverbial ladder from its No. 16 listing in the final pre-championship coaches' poll. Freshman Ona Alonso, senior Mollie Scott and freshman Sira Bo each recorded a personal-best time on their sport's biggest stage. Alonso finished 55th with her 6K time of 21:00.9. Scott and Bo claimed 57th place (21:01.8) and 59th place (21:03.8), respectively
The Catawba women's cross country team placed 21st out of 34 teams on Saturday at the 2023 NCAA II Cross Country Championships. Their best finish in history improving seven spots higher than their 28th place finish in last year's 2022 National Championship race. Madison Clay, a sophomore from Morganton, NC, led the team in the 6K race finishing 44th with a time of 20:48.3, just missing the All-American mark. Southeast Region Athlete of the Year, Mikayla Jones, finished in 86th place with a time of 21:28.5.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Jacob Parkinson finished 116th in the men's 10K while Sabrine Fleig finished 94th in the women's 6K for the Bears.
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