BACK TO BACK! WVU Tech wins RSC Men's XC Championship, qualifies for NAIAs
BACK TO BACK! WVU Tech wins RSC Men's XC Championship, qualifies for NAIAs
RESULTS: TEAM I INDIVIDUAL
PITTSBURGH -- WVU Tech had four individuals earn all-conference honors to lead the Golden Bears to the 2019 River States Conference Men's Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Nov. 9 from Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pa. WVU Tech placed first of 11 schools competing in the championship hosted by Carlow (Pa.) University.
WVU Tech advances as a team to the NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship Nov. 22 in Vancouver, Wash., with the RSC's automatic team qualification. It is the second RSC title in a row for the Golden Bears, who scored 40 points in the team standings to edge out runner-up Point Park (Pa.) University with 48.
Michael Ecker-Randolph placed first individually to lead WVU Tech to the title. He was named the RSC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year with a time of 26 minutes, 1 second in the 8,000-meter race. He was one of four Golden Bears to make it into the All-RSC First & Second Teams, which were for the top 14 finishers.
WVU Tech had three of the top five finishers with Nathan Morton (26:47) coming in fourth and Dan Nehnevaj (26:47) right behind in fifth. Aidan Hearne (27:48) was 11th for second team all-conference. Korbin Taylor (28:28) placed 19th overall to set the winning team score as the fifth WVU Tech runner to finish.
Justin Spoon from Asbury (Ky.) University was the individual runner-up. Ecker-Randolph won by 21 seconds, but Spoon was alone in second place at 26:22. Point Park's Xavier Stephens (26:44) finished third.
The top four individuals not from team champ WVU Tech qualified for the NAIA national meet. Joining Spoon and Stephens in that group were Point Park's Brody Carlin (26:57) in sixth place and Ohio Christian University's Jonathan Canaan-Gardner (27:11) in seventh place.
Asbury placed third in the team standings with 92 points. Led by Spoon, the Eagles had five runners in the top 26 places. Ohio Christian took third with 139 points and two runners in the top 10. IU Kokomo was fifth with 150 points followed by University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in sixth with 152, including two in the top 10. For the complete team and individual results, click the links above.
Point Park led the conference with five members of the All-RSC teams, and the Pioneers had six of the top 15 placements overall.
WVU Tech head coach Jeremy Bloom was voted by his peers as the RSC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. The RSC Newcomer of the Year was Rio Grande's Austin Setty, a freshman who finished 10th overall.
The RSC Men's Cross Country Champions of Character Team was named with one individual nominated by each coach who is the one on their team who best exhibits the five values of NAIA Champions of Character: Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.
2019 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM & INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Team Champion: WVU Tech
Team Runner-Up: Point Park (Pa.)
RSC Runner of the Year: Michael Ecker-Randolph (26:01), WVU Tech
RSC Coach of the Year: Jeremy Bloom, WVU Tech
RSC Newcomer of the Year: Austin Setty, Fr., Rio Grande (Ohio)
ALL-RSC FIRST TEAM
1. Michael Ecker-Randolph (26:01), WVU Tech
2. Justin Spoon (26:22), Asbury (Ky.)
3. Xavier Stephens (26:44), Point Park (Pa.)
4. Nathan Morton (26:47), WVU Tech
5. Dan Nehnevaj (26:47), WVU Tech
6. Brody Carlin (26:57), Point Park (Pa.)
7. Jonathan Canaan-Gardner (27:11), Ohio Christian
ALL-RSC SECOND TEAM
8. Drake Dickerson (27:36), Ohio Christian
9. Keshawn Jones (27:43), Rio Grande (Ohio)
10. Austin Setty (27:44), Rio Grande (Ohio)
11. Aidan Hearne (27:48), WVU Tech
12. Doug Kostelansky (27:57), Point Park (Pa.)
13. Bryan Guitierrez (28:10), Point Park (Pa.)
14. Carlos Polanco (28:19), Point Park (Pa.)
RSC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER TEAM
Noah Stevenson -- Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College
John Bowling -- Asbury (Ky.) University
Tyler Walz -- Brescia (Ky.) University
Evan Antes -- Carlow (Pa.) University
Chance Klipstone -- IU East
Jordan Fivecoate -- IU Kokomo
Ben Bradford -- Midway (Ky.) University
Noah Booze -- Ohio Christian University
Carlos Polanco -- Point Park (Pa.) University
Dean Freitag -- University of Rio Grande (Ohio)
Marcus Vital -- WVU Tech