STILLWATER, Okla. (November 19, 2022) – For the third season in a row, and the sixth time in seven years, the Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona are the NCAA Men’s Cross Country National Champions, as they secured yet another title today at Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course.
Paced by a second-place finish from Nico Young and a third-place finish by Drew Bosley individually, Northern Arizona scored 83 points to tie with Oklahoma State and were awarded the title via tiebreaker.
Following Young and Bosley, Santiago Prosser crossed the line in 19
th for NAU and Brodey Hasty came across in 25
th.
NAU was also this year’s Big Sky Conference champion, along with winning the NCAA West Regional.
The Lumberjack dynasty began in 2016, when former head coach Eric Heins led NAU to their first title. Since then, Mike Smith has been at the helm and has guided the ‘Jacks to five more titles in six seasons. The one season they were not national champions, they were national runner-ups.
NAU started their year by winning the George Kyte Classic, where they scored just 15 points en route to victory.
In their second meet, the ‘Jacks competed at the Coaching Tree Invitational, and ran to a third place finish. That led into their performance at the 2022 Cowboy Jamboree, where they finished third behind BYU and Stanford.
The Lumberjacks had the same fate at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, where they finished third behind Stanford and BYU.
Since the ‘Jacks entered championship season, they’ve kicked it into high gear.
Behind a 19 point performance they claimed victory at the 2022 Big Sky Conference Championships, with Nico Young and Drew Bosley taking the two top spots in the race.
Then, at the NCAA Mountain Regional, the Lumberjacks got all the way back to their winning ways by outpacing the field and scoring 43 points in a victory.
Qualifying for their first NCAA XC National Championship in 20 years, the Bobcats of Montana State ran to a 25
th-place finish on the men’s side. Matthew Richtman was MSU’s top finisher, crossing the line in 40
th.
Also offering up an inspiring performance, NAU’s women showed out on Saturday and claimed the second-best finish in Big Sky Conference history by finishing in sixth place.
The ‘Jacks were paced by Elise Stearns, who finished fourth in the field.
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