TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –
Damion Jackson ended a strong cross country season on a high note by finishing 57th in the NAIA Men's Championship on Friday.
Jackson, a junior, posted a time of 25:31.7 and was among a tightly bunched group at the finish line. A total of 323 runners completed the 8,000-meter race.
Jackson won the Kansas Conference Championship on Nov. 8 at Leavenworth.
"We needed him out a little bit harder today," coach
Garrett Young said. "He moved up every single kilometer of the race and got past a lot of guys but definitely one that I would say we wish we had back."
KWU placed 27th in the 37-team field with 579 points. Indiana Wesleyan was the champion with 117 points. Jack Anderson of The Master's was the individual champion in 24:15.4.
Ty Davidson finished 100th (25:58.4) for the Coyotes,
Wyatt Johnson was 179th (26:30.4),
Evan Pearce 191st (26:33.9),
Ethan Ochana 198th (26:38.6),
Jake Cruz (26:41.2) and
Austin Schaeffer 251st (27:15.0).
"Not really the day that we were hoping for," Young said. "Maybe some lack of execution on some things, just kind of misfiring in places. We needed to see things out early in the race that we didn't and it kind of come back and punished us on the back half."
Young said the future is bright though.
"We return most of the guys next year," he said, "so I think some really important experience for that crew and that group. Definitely some things to build on and work on."
