Richmond, VA – Sophomores Nick O'Connor (Tiffin, IA/Clear Creek Amana) and Isaac Bryant (Grinnell, IA/Grinnell-Newburg) finished back-to-back to lead the Indian Hills Men's Cross Country team to a 12^th place finish at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Cross Country Championship at Pole Green Park on Saturday.

The Warriors, ranked 12^th in the final national rankings, boasted its second-best finish in program history on Saturday with its 12^th place showing. The Warriors finished as the third-best team from the state of Iowa as Iowa Central Community College finished first to win the national championship followed by second-place Iowa Western Community College.

O'Connor and Bryant paced the Warriors as they have all year. The two sophomores pushed one another throughout the 8k event as O'Connor crossed the finish line in 43^rd place at a time of 26:19.5 followed by Bryant's 44^th place finish in 26:21.4. Bryant's time was an improvement of nearly 1:20 from last year's national championship performance.

Freshman Brady Millikin (Hedrick, IA/Pekin) placed 64^th overall to score for the Warriors with a time of 26:57.0 followed by Colten Glosser's (Packwood, IA/Pekin) 77^th place finish in 27:17.4 Chris Metz (Freeport, IL/Freeport) rounded out the team scoring for Indian Hills in 107^th place with a time of 27:50.9.

Sophomore Dylan Steele (Woodward, IA/Woodward-Granger) ran a personal best time of 28:24.1 for the Warriors to place 127^th overall. Weston Shively (Bloomfield, IA/Davis County) crossed the finish line with a time of 31:45.6.

WARRIORS FINISH STRONG AT NATIONALS!

The 12th ranked @IHCCrunning men placed 12th at the 2021 NJCAA National Championships in Richmond, VA in one of the fastest national meets in history!#WeAreHills #WarriorNation pic.twitter.com/ag3XQf1WH0

— IHCC Athletics (@IHCCAthletics) November 13, 2021