Richmond, VA – Sophomore Cayde de Waal (Brakpan, South Africa/Hoërskool Oosterlig) and freshman Bailey Taig (Perth, Western Australia/Quinn's Baptist College) led the Indian Hills Men's Cross Country team at the 2024 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI Men's Cross County Championship at Pole Green Park on Saturday.
de Waal highlighted the Warrior duo at the national championship with a 30th place finish on the day, the fifth-best finish at the national meet in program history. de Waal crossed the finish line in 24:49.8, the third consecutive meet the sophomore has broken 25 minutes in the 8k event.
Taig followed de Waal in 68th place for the Warriors in the freshman's inaugural national meet. Taig crossed the line in 25:58.4 for the 16th-best finish in program history for the Warriors.
Head coach Brent Ewing recapped the Warriors' performance as a whole as the women's side also saw a pair of impressive performances at the national meet. "As a group, we had some of the highest individual places we've had at the national cross country meet in program history. Sometimes I have to remind myself that they're all first year collegiate cross country runners. Their poise and consistency that they showed this season would lead you to believe they've been in these shoes before. I think that says a lot of about their future and the future of our program."
Salt Lake Community College (UT) took home the top overall team title with 52 points followed by Iowa Western Community College and Hutchinson Community College (KS) to round out the top-three. JaQuavious Harris of Salt Lake was the individual champion with a time of 23:30.7.
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