SSU men's XC makes largest national gain; jumps up to No. 15 in NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches Rating

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The men's cross country program at Shawnee State, following a resilient effort that saw the Bears fight their way to a ninth consecutive conference championship in the sport, made the largest jump of any team in the country in the final NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches Rating as Conner Flynn's group advanced from No. 19 in the NAIA national rankings to No. 15 in a release that was put out by national officials earlier this week.

Shawnee State, who collected 296 points in the final rating release prior to the 2024 NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championships, made a 65-point jump to rise into the top-15 nationally. The Bears sat just 66 points off of a top-10 position in the poll -- and are ahead of 18 different NAIA powerhouses that are either ranked or receiving votes across 11 different states.

Shawnee State, who was also the only team to place each of its top-five runners inside the top-15 from a conference standpoint, claimed the RSC title by just four points over No. 8 Rio Grande (43 points to Rio's 47) as the Bears utilized its consistency to emerge victorious. The Bears also beat out No. 20 Indiana-East, who finished third, by 10 points in an extremely tight and competitive race to the crown.

Due to the conference's depth at the top of the heap, the River States Conference was one of only three in the entire NAIA to have at least three teams earn qualifying bids into the NAIA National Tournament, with the Cascade Conference and the Crossroads Conference being the other two. Only the Crossroads, who had five national qualifiers, earned more bids from a team perspective than the RSC did in 2024.

In the River States Conference race itself, Rio Grande placed two runners inside the top three of the event, with the RedStorm's Tyler Jenkins winning the event for the second straight year. However, Isaiah Lanoy, Kaiden Lanoy and Trevor Lanoy all finished fourth, seventh and eighth -- and Little added in a 10th place showing -- before Rio Grande's No. 3 runner, Wes Taylor, crossed the tape in 12th.

Two runners later, French, who finished 14th to claim the final Second-Team All-RSC spot, sealed the frantic finish to championship glory as the senior harrier from Coal Grove delivered diamonds for Shawnee State by edging Rio Grande's Daniel Persinger by 4.7 seconds and Kasy Science by 8.7 seconds to seal the championship for Shawnee State from a team perspective.

"We were prepared," Flynn said. "Our men came into the meet with a plan, we executed, and the result was as we expected it would be. I am proud of these athletes for their focus and diligence in their preparation."

The 2024 River States Conference Championship is the 14th conference championship for the Shawnee State men's cross country program in its history. The Bears won five straight championships upon its arrival inside the Mid-South Conference from 2010 to 2014, then ripped off seven consecutive titles in the Mid-South from 2016 to 2022 before making the move to the RSC, where SSU has won its last two conference meets.