As our 2020 cross country season concludes, there is a lot to be proud of, and a lot to look forward to in the Spring of 2021. Our group that traveled up to Fort Dodge this past weekend exhibited tremendous growth throughout the season in both qualitative and quantitative measures. On the women's side, Ashley Diaz managed to earn All-Regional honors in her first cross country season ever despite injuries that lingered all season. Her top 20 finish at National Championships while being so new to the sport speaks volumes to Ashley's racing potential. Ashley also now owns the school record in the 2-mile. Stephanie Cunningham was the only returner from last year's women's team. When comparing last year's results to this year's results, Stephanie's performances speak for themselves. Stephanie's fastest 5k during the 2019 cross country season was 30:03.4. Her best performance of the 2020 cross country season was 25:57.0. Needless to say, it is uncommon for someone to improve by over 4 minutes in their 5k time in the span of one year. Stephanie was also one spot away from earning All-Region honors.

On the men's side, Ryan Pendergast was the team's front runner all year with a season best of 27:11.0, which was the second fastest 8k in the nation at the time. His performance earned him Week 5 National Athlete of the Week. After having to sit out of Regional Championships with an injury, we were lucky Ryan was healthy enough to run and finish only three spots away from All-American at National Championships. Ryan also kicked off his young running career with a school record in the 5k and 4 mile. Logan Ray ran his season best with a time of 31:14.9 at National Championships to place 23rd in the nation. This performance moves Logan up to 6th all-time in school history for the 8k. Logan's constant improvement throughout the season wouldn't have been possible without his commitment to learning about how to improve his race strategy week to week. Luke Montani was the only returner from our 2019 men's cross country team and has shown improvement by clocking a career best in the 8k by 24 seconds compared to his best performance of 2019. Jeremiah Branson and Josh Butters pulled through with great efforts to round out the scoring for the Cougars at NJCAA DIII National Championships. Both Jeremiah and Josh improved consistently each and every week during their debut cross country season to help the team. This season wouldn't have been as great as it was if it wasn't for the individuals who came together to pursue the common goal of improving themselves and connecting with one another. We are incredibly proud of all the performances at National Championships, and look forward to seeing what these Cougars will accomplish this Spring and beyond!