BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Led by three Bruin men who were named all-Conference, the Bruin men's cross country team rose to the runner-up spot at today's NSAA Cross Country Championship. This was the Bruin's best finish as a team in their short four-season existence, bettering a fourth-place showing in 2019. The Bruins posted a team score of 59 (sum of their first five runners finishing places) to edge Dickinson State by two points. The Dakota State men put four runners into the Top Ten and tallied a team score of 40 points, advancing them to the NAIA National Championship on November 19 in Ft. Vancouver, Wash.
Partly sunny skies and temperatures around 50 degrees with a stiff south wind made for great running conditions. The extremely hilly layout on the Platteview Golf Course, hosted by Bellevue for the first time, made the racing more than challenging with times approximately a minute and a half slower than previous season bests. Three Bruin men, by virtue of their Top Ten finishes, were named to the all-NSAA team.
Leading the Bruins was senior Chris Casart who came home in the third position running 28:43.0. Next to finish was freshman Peyton Anthony in sixth in 28:48.7. The Bruins' final all-Conference runner was junior Edrei Murillo who was ninth in 29:01.3. Casart and Anthony will both advance to the NAIA National Cross Country Championships as they were among the top four finishers who were not members of the championship-winning Dakota State team. Murillo narrowly missed out on NAIA qualification as he was the fifth individual besides runners from Dakota State.
Des Debesh was the fourth Bruin scorer crossing the line in 21st in a time of 30:08.3 and Kaleb Wooten rounded out the Bruins' five scorers running 30:31.9 for 25th. Ten spots back was senior Aaron Newton, 35th in 31:47.9, and the final Bruin finisher was Gabe Poppen, attempting his first race after an injury-plagued season, who finished in 39th place in 32:45.0.
Senior Aaron Newton was recognized as the 2021 Cross Country Champion of Character for the Bruin men.
Head Coach Craig Christians: "As I laid out this course, I knew it was going to present a problem to some runners while others would use them to their advantage. Chris definitely was in the latter group and his strength was clearly evident throughout the race. He executed a perfect race plan. Peyton did a great job hanging onto Chris to qualify and Edrei fell just short of qualifying but I thought he ran his best race of the season. I think Des was one who suffered a bit in the hills and did not have his best race. Kaleb has struggled with a severe lower leg injury that has prevented him from doing much training over the last two weeks and I was impressed by the way he powered his way around the course. Aaron was an original member of this team and he has meant so much to our growth over the past four seasons. He is truly deserving of his Champion of Character recognition. It was great to see Gabe out on the course and I appreciate his willingness to provide us some insurance in the team scoring."
Chris Casart and Peyton Anthony have two weeks to prepare for the NAIA national championship in Ft. Vancouver, Washington. They are the first Bruin men in history to qualify for the national championship.
