It was a double sweep for The Master's University teams at the GSAC Cross Country Championships at Central Park in Santa Clarita, Calif. on Friday.
Both the teams took home their respective team championships, with
Jack Anderson and Hannah Fredericks each winning individual titles. The victory extended the men's streak to 15 GSAC titles in a row and five in a row for the women.
The No. 3 ranked Mustang men made their presence known in the front pack of the 8000m race, with seven runners finishing in the top 10.
Anderson took his second straight GSAC individual crown thanks to a strong move with 600m to go. His time of 24:00 was a course record and he put a gap of 17 seconds on Embry-Riddle All-American Demetris Love Jr. in the final half mile.
"Our men's team put down some incredible performances today. I'm really proud of how well these guys ran and also the response that each one had to the outcome," Anderson said. "Win or lose, we all made it our mission to give the glory to God and display the hope we have in Christ to all the other teams out there."
Seniors
Connor Ybarra (24:32) and
Nate Day (24:37) were joined in the top 5 by a surprise Mustang.
Isaiah Fastrup (24:47) had the best race of his Mustang career to place fifth. Fastrup had scored at only one meet this season, but his breakthrough race blew open the team scoring in favor of the Mustangs.
The TMU men ran away with the team title race, defeating No. 14 Embry-Riddle by a comfortable 17-point margin. TMU had five more athletes achieve all-conference honors:
Hunter Romine (25:07),
Cedar Collins (25:07),
Andrew Cross (25:08),
Emmanuel De Leon (25:09) and
Jacob Niednagel (25:35).
The No. 4 ranked women also had a strong finish, as they also put seven runners in the top 10.
Hannah Fredericks' 21:29 6000m was nearly 30 seconds faster than the second-place finisher and was her third GSAC title. Fredericks will be in the hunt to win her first NAIA cross-country national title in two weeks.
"The girls fought hard out there and it's so much fun to be out there suffering with them," Fredericks said. "Our hope is that we would put Christ on display through our running and we're excited to keep practicing that as we look forward to nationals in two weeks."
This was Fredericks' fourth win of the season, as she has placed in the top 3 of every race she has competed in. Junior Emma Nelson (22:07) came through in third to give the Mustangs another much needed low stick.
Senior All-American Ellen Palmgren (22:21), sophomore Suzie Johnson (22:40) and junior Alysa Lovett (22:45) rounded out the scoring five for the GSAC champs. Four more TMU athletes were All-GSAC, including Ella Howe (23:03), Rebekah Niednagel (23:13), Erini Shaker (23:28) and Brooke Cregan (23:38).
The Mustangs will train for two more weeks before heading to the NAIA Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Mo. on Nov. 22.
