#16 Fresno Pacific men’s cross country team had a lot of firsts this season. This will be the first time in school history the men will be heading to nationals, and along the way Coach Eric Schwab received the GSAC Coach of the Year, also for the first time as the cross country coach.
The Sunbirds finished the season #16 in the NAIA after finishing second in the GSAC. Previously, the Sunbirds best finish had been #20 at the end of the season. Coach Schwab commented, “The guys have been running great all season, and should be ready for nationals,” he continued in response to the coaches’ award, “I would rather have the guys finish their season this well every year over a coach of the year honor.”
Fresno Pacific will travel back to Kenosha, Wisconsin for Nationals. All seven runners will travel for the race, where only Benny Madrigal# has experience at the national level from competing individually last year. Madrigal finished 63rd overall last year, where this year the Sunbirds will look to have runners inside the top 50.
A month ago the men traveled to Kenosha and finished third in the Parkside Invitational, but according to Coach Schwab this will be a completely different race, “It’ll be the same course, but the weather will change a lot. It was 70 degrees in October; it’ll be much colder this time. Last year [when Madrigal raced] it was in the 30s.”
The NAIA Championship meet will take place on November 22.