CROSS COUNTRY

For the fifth consecutive year, both the men’s and women’s Huntington cross country teams will compete in the NAIA Cross Country Championships. The Foresters will run on Friday, November 17, at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course in Vancouver, Wash.

The HU men, ranked #25 in the final NAIA poll, received one of the 12 at-large bids as determined by an oversight committee. The rest of the men’s 8K field will be made up of 23 automatic qualifiers and 85 athletes competing as individuals.

Huntington is one of five Crossroads League teams making the trip to the Pacific Northwest. Other CL schools competing include Goshen (#11), Grace (#12), IWU, as the conference champions and overall #1 seed, and Taylor (#10).

It is the Foresters’ tenth trip to the NAIA’s big stage with the first appearance dating back to 1998. Huntington finished tenth last year while their second place finish in 2020 marks the program’s highest finish.

On the women’s side, the 12th-ranked Foresters received the one of the 11 at-large berths. The rest of the field is made up of 24 automatic qualifiers and 88 individual qualifiers.

This trip is HU’s eleventh to the championships with their first dating back to 1991. The Foresters finished 13th last fall with their 10th place finish in 2019 marking the program’s highest finish.

Huntington is one of five Crossroads League teams that will be competing at nationals this year. Taylor (#4) received the league’s automatic bid as the conference champs while Grace (#15), Goshen (#20) and IWU (#13), like Huntington, received at-large berths.

Both races will be broadcast on the NAIA Network. To access the live video stream and purchase a pass, visit https://portal.stretchinternet.com/naia/. The women’s 6,000 will start at 10:30 a.m. PST followed by the men’s 8,000 at 11:30 a.m. PST.

Members of the HU women’s championship team include Deann Fry, Molly Harding, Alyeska Linsley, Anna Martin, Malarie Pinwar, Emily Tedder and Addy Wiley.

Members of the HU men’s championship team include Isaac Combs, Reece Gibson, Jonah Lemmon, Austin Liepe, Tyler Loucks, Carter VanderMeer and Kent Yoder.