The Park University cross country program has three qualifiers for the 2024 NAIA Cross Country National Championships on Friday, November 22 in Columbia, Mo.
For the men's squad,
Lukas Mehl and
Cayden Walker will represent at nationals hosted at Gans Creek Cross Country Course. Park women's cross country will send
Lily Brecheisen to compete as the third individual qualifier.
Brecheisen is the first women's cross country individual to qualify for nationals since Allison Gibson during the 2020 NAIA National Championship.
While on the subject of history in qualifying for the national championship, it's been since 2020 that Park sent individuals from both the men's and women's cross country teams in the same year, as Nathan Straubel also accompanied Gibson for the men's cross country championship.
You would have to go back to 2017 when Park sent multiple individual qualifiers to the national championship, as Nicholas Rotich, Christian Skinner, and William Henry all represented Park at the men's cross country national championship.
Mehl and Walker, were neck-and-neck at the 2024 Heart Men's Cross Country Championship, placing 5
th and 6
th for Heart First Team All-Conference awards. They both ran their collegiate bests, as Mehl, the sophomore from Wuerselen, Germany, ran a 25:05.4 and Walker, a freshman from Gypsum, Kan., clocked a 25:06.9.
For Mehl, this is his second go around at NAIA nationals, qualifying at the 2023 national championships his freshman year.
Brecheisen, another freshman, put up a Heart All-Conference Honorable Mention performance at the Heart championship for 14
th in a time of 23:09.7 in the women's 6k. The native from Baldwin City, Kan. earned her personal best time to send her to her first women's cross country national championship.
The NAIA National Championships begin on Friday, November 22 with the men's 8k at 10:30am and then the women's 6k at 11:30am.
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