CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS WOMEN 2nd - MEN Third Place - Six Runners in Top Ten -All CCAC-
CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS WOMEN 2nd - MEN Third Place - Six Runners in Top Ten -All CCAC-
GovState Coach John Niendorf on the CCAC Champiomship Meet:
On women's race -
"I could not be prouder of how our women's team performed at conference today. They finished 2nd place for the first time in our program's history. They ran with so much heart and grit, it was truly inspiring to watch. All the hard work and effort that they have put into the season finally paid off in a tangible way. Sophia Flowers took second overall and was the CCAC freshman of the year. Krysta Stanko and Avery Kittl earned All-Conference honors, finishing 8th and 10th respectively. Avery stepped up for us in heroic fashion. She is an enormous reason we finished second. Morgan Pieczynski did her job and finished 20th place. Camila Mendez ran the race of her life and finished 22nd place. Without her, there is no way we would have had the team score that we did. Yahaira Rodriguez and Sydney Bonham rounded out the top 7 for us. They both ran excellent races. The women ran with pride, determination, and a singular goal. That goal was to get to Nationals and now, we just wait and see if the voters put us in the field of 36 teams at Tallahassee, Florida. No matter what happens, this has been a year to remember for GSU women's cross country, and these women should hold their heads up high," said Coach Niendorf.
"The men ran well today and were able to earn themselves a 3rd place finish at the CCAC championships. Samuel Rocio took All-Conference honors, finishing 4th place overall, finishing five spots better than he did last year. Daniel Zavala finished 5th and was All-Conference as well. His finish was 6 spots better than last year's performance. Both these runners have earned their spot at the National meet in Tallahassee, Florida. Colin O'Brien finished 8th place and received All-Conference honors as well. Colin O'Brien ran finished 45th place last year at conference and showed a 37 place improvement from last year. Unfortunately, Colin was not one of the four individuals who get to qualify for Nationals, despite finishing in the top 10 and being All-Conference. Only four individuals not on a qualifying team get in and Colin was fifth in that ranking. Those three ran with so much heart and putting 3 in the top 10 at conference is something they should be proud of. Omar Mohamed and Ian French rounded out the scoring five with 25th and 26th place finishes. Overall, I felt that the men ran hard today, and I saw a lot of fight out there. I think that there are some things that we can clean up over the track season that can set us up for a better finish next season. Despite those adjustments that need to be made, I was proud of how a lot of these young men worked this season and the improvements that so many of them made as runners," said Coach Niendorf.
Men's race - GovState 3rd of 9 Teams
Aspen Ridge Golf Course | Bourbonnais, Ill. - Below -pics of Men's and Women's All-CCAC Conference 2025 Runners - (6 from GovState) - Flowers,Stanko,Kittl, Rocio, Zavala, O'Brien
