TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Nov. 22 - Southern Utah's men's cross country competed this weekend at the NCAA National Championships in Indiana. The top 31 teams in the nation qualified for the meet with Southern Utah coming in ranked as No. 22 in the nation. The men secured their national ranking with a 22nd-place team finish with a score of 578.
Senior Nate Jewkes led the team for his final collegiate cross country race. Jewkes led the race through 7k and ended up finishing 15th overall with a time of 30:38.7 (10k). This finish earned Nate the honor of All-American. This was his third and final year competing at NCAA Nationals. He was followed by Junior, Hayden Hawks, with a 116th-place finish with a time of 31:40.0. Mike Tate (31:52.8) and Ibrahim Ahmed (32:33.8) came in next with 139th- and 200th-place finishes. Dylan Marx rounded out the men's score finishing 214th with a time of 32:50.7. Istvan Szogi (33:25.6) and Clinton Rhoton (34:28.8) came in as the final runners for the T-Birds with 231st- and 243rd-place finishes.
"This has been a great year for the team," head coach Eric Houle said. "To come in ranked 22nd and not have our best race, and still finish 22nd speaks volumes to the program. To have an outright All-American and to be among the best of division one athletes speaks volumes of Nate Jewkes. In the last eight years we now have three All-Americans and a team that is ranked top in the nation. We're happy with what we accomplished this season."
The team now prepares for the indoor track season starting with the first meet in January 2015.
