(Vancouver, Wash.)  After three beautiful days, the weather in Vancouver, Washington turned seasonal, which is to say rainy as the NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championships got underway. The four-loop course at Fort Vancouver became muddier and more slippery with each lap making the short hills and sharp corners more of a challenge.

Cornerstone senior, Travis Mabe led his team for the final time, working his way from 85^th in the open mile then passing a dozen or so competitors each time around the two kilometer circuit. Classmate, Cody Risch pulled the rest of the CU pack then broke away in the final miles.

Aiming for a spot in the top 30, Mabe reached 32^nd with one mile to go.  He finished the race in 25:31, his best time of his four races here, placing 41^st.  "I thought Travis ran exactly like he wanted to but  fell a little short of his goal," said coach Nate Van Holten.  "Cody ran well cracking the top 100 [96^th in 26:05] and Zach Bourdon ran 8 seconds off his PR [27:43 / 254^th]on a tough course and a tough day. Cornerstone fourth senior, Jared Courtright, gave a determined effort,  having spent the previous day feeling quite sick. He finished in 169^th with a time of 26:47.

Between Risch and Courtright, were Thomas Bambach (133^rd /  26:30) and Louis Falland (161^st / 26:43). Tyler Grey placed 300^th in 29:17.

Van Holten was fairly pleased with the results, "We finished 19, which is our third best at nationals. It's been a season of ups and downs, bumps and bruises and this week has been like that as well. We handled that well.  We came in ranked 18^th and finished 19^th after not running our best so I can live with that."