ONU MEN’S, WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS QUALIFY FOR NAIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Olivet Nazarene University will send both its men's and women's cross country teams to the NAIA National Championship meet for the fourth-consecutive year under Head Coach Kyle Rago. The NAIA announced Tuesday evening the Tigers' selection to compete in the 44th annual NAIA Cross Country National Championship on Friday, Nov. 17 in Vancouver, Wash.

The Tiger men were one of 12 teams selected as a qualifier Tuesday, while the ONU women were one of 11 teams to earn an at-large bid. ONU is the only school from the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) to earn an at-large selection on either side. They will join CCAC men's and women's champion St. Francis (Ill.) in Vancouver next Friday.

The ONU cross country teams earned the at-large bids after impressive showings at the CCAC Championships last Saturday, with the Tiger men and women both earning runner-up places behind St. Francis (Ill.). The Tiger women tallied just 49 points while the men's 44 points were only eight shy of St. Francis' 36. Enrique Romo took home individual runner-up honors in the men's race at 25:05.97 while four Tigers earned all-conference standards in the women's meet.

Both Tiger teams have qualified for the national championships for the last three seasons under Head Coach Kyle Rago. Both squads earned 24th-place finishes in the 2022 NAIA Championships a season ago.

The 2023 NAIA Cross Country National Championships will be hosted by the Cascade Collegiate Conference at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course. The women's 6K race will begin at 10:30 a.m. PST with the men's 8K to follow at 11:30 a.m. PST.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu