NIACC men place 18th at national meet

November 9, 2019

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The NIACC men's cross country team placed 18th at the NJCAA Division I national meet on Saturday with 540 points.

Cloud County CC claimed the men's national title with 89 points on the University of New Mexico North Golf Course. El Paso CC was second with 110 points and Iowa Central was third with 140 points.

NIACC was led by freshman Jorge Ruiz, who was 54th in a time of 26 minutes, 21 seconds on the 8-kilometer course.

Other counting scores for the Trojans were Jalen Petersen (72nd in 26:40), Aidan Bauermeister (144th in 27:36), Evan Wilson (174th in 28:04) and Sam Pedelty (180th in 28:10). Also for NIACC, Ellis Regan was 231st in 28:57.

NIACC ran Saturday's national meet without all-region performer Janvier Irakoze and Dawson Schmidt, who ran a personal best 26:29 at the regional meet.