Midway (Ky.) wins RSC Men's XC Championship for first time
Midway (Ky.) wins RSC Men's XC Championship for first time
RESULTS
RICHMOND, Ind. -- Midway University captured the 2021 River States Conference Men's Cross Country Championship as the Eagles had a pair of first team performers in Jacob and Josiah Kocis leading the way on the Indiana University East course on Saturday.
Midway finished with 96 points in the 12-team affair. Indiana University Kokomo and University of Rio Grande (Ohio) tied for second with 97. IU Kokomo was awarded runner-up with its sixth runner finishing higher.
The other team scores were Point Park University 104, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College 110, Ohio Christian University 148, Indiana University East 179, Alice Lloyd College 183, WVU Tech 216, Oakland City University 263, Carlow University 315 and Brescia University 316.
Rio Grande's Cody Booth was the individual champion with time of 26:06 as he was named the RSC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Year. Last season, Booth was the RSC Newcomer of the Year.
Midway head coach Jay Walls was voted RSC Coach of the Year. The RSC Newcomer of the Year was Thomas Chapman of St. Mary-of-the-Woods as he was fourth with a 27:08.2.
Booth, Drake Dickerson (Ohio Christian) 27:00.0, Jacob Kocis 27:04.0, Chapman 27:08.2, Corry Mientkiewicz (Ohio Christian) 27:10.7, Luis Saldana (Indiana Kokomo) 27:14.5 and Josiah Kocis 27:46.0 were the top seven individuals were named to the All-RSC First Team.
Along with Midway's team, the top six individuals from other schools who earned individual bids to nationals were Booth, Dickerson, Chapman, Corry Mientkiewicz, Saldana and Anthony Adams of St. Mary-of-the-Woods who was eighth with a 27:59.7.
The RSC Champions of Character Team was also selected with one member of each team named for best representing the NAIA five character values: Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.
2021 RSC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Runner of the Year -- Cody Booth (Rio Grande)
Newcomer of the Year -- Thomas Chapman (St. Mary-of-the-Woods)
Coach of the Year -- Jay Walls (Midway)
ALL-RSC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY FIRST TEAM
1. Cody Booth (Rio Grande) -- 26:06.0 **
2. Drake Dickerson (Ohio Christian) -- 27:00.0 **
3. Jacob Kocis (Midway) -- 27:04.0
4. Thomas Chapman (St. Mary-of-the-Woods) -- 27:08.2 **
5. Corry Mientkiewicz (Ohio Christian) -- 27:10.7 **
6. Luis Saldana (Indiana Kokomo) -- 27:14.5 **
7. Josiah Kocis (Midway) -- 27:46.0
ALL-RSC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY SECOND TEAM
8. Anthony Adams (St. Mary-of-the-Woods) -- 27:59.7 **
9. Chester Mientkiewicz (Ohio Christian) -- 28:09.2
10. Ryan Morris (Alice Lloyd) -- 28:11.0
11. Treven Carter (Point Park) -- 28:11.3
12. Nathan Morton (WVU Tech) -- 28:11.4
13. Danuel Persinger (Rio Grande) -- 28:15.7
14. Liam Nelson (Indiana East) -- 28:16.7
**NAIA individual qualifier
RSC MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER TEAM
Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College -- Jacob VanHook
Brescia (Ky.) University -- James Barrow
Carlow (Pa.) University -- Kevin Sheehan
Indiana University East -- Liam Nelson
Indiana University Kokomo -- Bryce Jennings
Midway (Ky.) University -- Wesley Greene
Oakland City (Ind.) University -- Justin Defur
Ohio Christian University -- Drake Dickerson
Ohio Valley (W.Va.) University -- Tucker Dougherty
Point Park (Pa) University -- Julius Thomas
St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) College -- Juan Delgado-Vasquez
University of Rio Grande (Ohio) -- Dean Freitag
WVU Tech -- Wesley Helmandollar