Joplin, MO - The Grace Christian University cross country teams faced the NCCAA's best cross country competition at Nationals on Friday, hosted on the Missouri Southern State University cross country course in Joplin, MO.  Temperatures were in the mid 70s with a 10-20 mph wind as the Tigers toed the line for their respective races.  Despite conditions that were much different than their previous few weeks of training in Michigan, the Tigers left everything they had on the course and earned some hard fought results.

The women's team found a 6th place overall finish as a team.  Led by senior Maty Deneui (Fenton, MI), the ladies went back and forth with runners from the eventual fourth and fifth place teams, Boyce College and Moody Bible Institute.  In the end, Deneui crossed the line in 12th place, her highest ever individual finish at Nationals in a time of 22:10.  Kristina Brandenburg (Twin Lake, MI) was next across the line in 22nd place (23:16), with freshman Sayla Bender (Kingsley, MI) not far behind in 26th place (23:46). Lily Anderson (Pickford, MI) in 45th place and Aura Fleis (Republic, MI) in 51st place rounded out the scoring for the Tigers.

On the men's side, the Tigers were led by a stellar performance from freshman Caleb Anderson (Wyoming, MI).  Anderson ran a new lifetime personal best 8k time by almost 30 seconds (29:06) and finished 11th overall, just missing earning All-American honors by one spot.  Anderson's time moved him up to #3 all-time for school history in the 8k.  Sophomore Ian Hinkle (Grand Ledge, MI) finished in 21st with a time of 29:43 and sophomore Jude Vargo (Penn Hills, PA) finished in 63rd with a time of 35:49 to round out the results for the men's team.