VANCOUVER, Wash. – Montreat College men's cross country raced to a 28th-place team finish and Lydia Wilson hit the mark for All-American status at the 2019 NAIA Cross Country National Championships which took place at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on Friday.

In their second consecutive nationals appearance, the Cavalier men were led by sophomore Nathan Richards who finished 106th at 26:26.2 in a field of 37 teams and 335 individual runners. Montreat's No. 2 guy was freshman Dylan Branch coming in 165th at 26:52.7 in his nationals debut.

Benjamin Schmidt finished at 27:01.9 for 184th while Dan O'Dell crossed soon after at 27:08.1 for 198th. Rounding out the scoring for Montreat was Caleb Silver in 233rd at 27.31.4. Antonio Gomez (27:53.2) ran for 263rd and Garret Welsh (28:04.8) placed 274th.

"It was a tough day at the office for our men, and not at all what we expected to do," said head coach Jason Lewkowicz. "There are a lot of little things we could focus on as to why that happened but the reality is that sometimes it is just not your day. What I told them is that, while today's outcome was disappointing, it does not take away from the tremendous season they had overall and there is still a lot to be proud of. Some of the greatest achievements are made following adversity, and I know these guys will bounce back. These guys have done so much to advance the program at Montreat and I have no doubt that they will continue to do great things."

On the women's side, senior Lydia Wilson landed in the top 30 for her second straight All-American honor. Wilson ran the 5k course in 18:34 for a 28th-place finish out of 341 total runners. Erica Morin was .3 seconds away from a top-100 finish in her nationals debut, placing 103rd at 19.28.2.

"I was really pleased with how our ladies competed today," said Coach Lewkowicz. "Erica has made such tremendous strides the past year, and to nearly earn a top 100 finish at the championships is quite the accomplishment. I'm so happy for Lydia as she was able to overcome a lot of adversity from the season to gut out a tough race to earn another All-American honor. Both of these ladies are extremely tough competitors, and they truly seek to honor Christ with their efforts, and they did that very well today."