NIACC men place 15th at nationals

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The NIACC men's cross country team placed 15th at the NJCAA Division II meet Saturday with 437 points.

The Trojans entered the national meet ranked 17th in the final USTFCCCA poll.

Lansing CC was the NJCAA Division II champion with 73 points and Heartland CC was second with 78 points.

DMACC placed 11th with 361 points and Southeastern CC was 16th with 447 points.

NIACC was led by sophomore Breyden Christensen, who placed 48th in a time of 26 minutes, 44 seconds on the 8-kilometer course. Christensen's 48th place finish was a 51-place improvement from his freshman season when he placed 99th at the national meet in Tallahassee, Fla.

NIACC freshman Owen Almelien was 63rd in 27:06, sophomore Jacob Vais was 117th in a career-best time of 28:04, sophomore Bryson Canton was 124th in 28:13 and freshman Joey Ringo was 126th in 28:16.

NIACC's Chris Marroquin was 164th in 29:11 and Eli Bergman was 17th in 29:22.

The 15th-place finish was a two-place improvement from a year ago for the Trojans under second-year head coach Steven Story. The Trojans placed 17th at the 2022 national meet.