Saints women win Frontier championship; men place third
Billings, Mont. – The Saints cross country women won their sixth Frontier Cross Country Championship in seven years while the Saints cross country men placed third.
Carroll's women scored 39 points to beat Bellevue, which scored 109 points for second. The Saints garnered eight All-Conference selections led by Ryah O'Dell in fifth and Jayna Boonstra in sixth, who both earned their second consecutive cross country All-Conference honors. They were followed by Audrey VanWestrienen (eighth), Ariel Brewer (ninth), Ruthanne Arthun (11th), Nikki Nau (12th), Amelia Mayes (14th), and Faye Holland (15th).
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The Carroll men scored 81 points, placing behind Rocky (39 points) and Bellevue (65 points), and just ahead of Montana Tech (98 points). The men brought home three All-Conference selections led by Conrad Schruth in fourth. Jack Jensen followed directly behind in fifth for his second lifetime cross country All-Conference award, while senior Oliver Morris (12th) earned his third in a row.
Great conditions and strong competition led to multiple personal records for the Saints. On the men's side, Jensen and Colter Anderson ran their best 8K times ever. For the women, 13 individuals ran their fastest times over 6K, including all eight All-Conference selections.
"Today I would describe our men's team as courageous and our women's team as selfless," said head coach Shannon Flynn. "They should be really proud of how they showed up for each other, the work they put in to get here, and who they are as people," she added.
The women earned an automatic bid to the NAIA Championships with their win. "This was some of the best pack running we've seen in the last few years from our women's team," said Flynn. "The culture and energy have felt really good this fall, and we're hoping to carry that momentum into Nationals in a few weeks."
With the third-place finish and landscape of national rankings this fall, the men will not receive an automatic or at-large berth to the NAIA Championships for the first time since 2019. Because Schruth and Jensen were among the top four competitors not on a qualifying team, they will get to compete individually at Nationals.
"The men put themselves out there today to give themselves a chance," said Flynn. "They kept believing in the process all season even when we experienced bumps in the road, and we believe that is going to pay off for them in the future."
In the post-race awards ceremony, Jack Jensen and Jenna Castro earned Carroll's Champion of Character awards. Luke Decker was the Frontier Conference Grit Award winner for the men, sponsored by the Montana Army National Guard. Shannon Flynn was named the Frontier Conference women's coach of the year.
Full results are available at this link.
The Saints women's team and men's individual qualifiers will compete on Friday, Nov. 20, at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships in Vancouver, Wash.
