Men's Cross Country Finishes 10th at AAC Championships
KNOXVILLE, TN - The Columbia College men finished an impressive 10th out of 13 schools at the 2025 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Men's Cross Country Championship on Friday at Sequoyah Park in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Koalas finished with 276 points just missing the top seven to tie for 10th with Truett-McConnell.
The Milligan Univ. men won the meet with 27 points while Montreat (NC) took second with 54 points. SCAD Atlanta (65 points), Reinhardt (106 points), and Bryan (184 points) rounded out the top five.
Leading the men was freshman Jesse Gourde placing 59th overall in the 8K (4.97 miles) with a time of 28:23 for 48 points while freshman Elijah Fink was right behind in 62nd at 28:36 and 51 points.
Fellow freshman Alex Blake then placed third for the Koalas and 67th overall in 29:14 while freshman Will Parker was 76th in 30:26. Wrapping up the scoring for CC was DJ McGriff-Agers coming in 78th at 30:35.
Also running for the Koalas was Jalen Miller, Jimmy Bates, Jordon Miller, and Jude Dill. Jalen was 85th in 31:09 and was followed by Bates in 91st in 32:05. Jordon was right behind in 92nd in 32:16 while Dill was in 94th in 33:09.
Making the AAC All-Academic team was senior Kristian Sanchez while he was also named to the Champions of Character team.
"It went well!" commented head coach Tanner Graham. "Between both teams, 15 runners set new personal records and are proving that we are moving in the right direction. Our starting seven men are all freshmen and have improved their times in an even tougher conference than it has ever been."