VANCOUVER, WA – The men's Cross Country team may not have been able to participate as a team at the NAIA National Championship meet in Vancouver, Washington, but that didn't mean that, as a team, they wouldn't be able to cheer on, and pull for teammates Nathan Martin and Kyle Anderson who competed as individuals and represented Spring Arbor in the meet.

Senior Nathan Martin, and Junior Kyle Anderson ran the race of their lives in the 8K event.  Martin completed the course in a time of 24:37 and placed 7^th which is the highest finish ever for a Spring Arbor University athlete and Anderson clocked a time of 24:46 , good for an 11^th place finish which is the 3^rd highest finish ever for a Cougar.

The top 15 finishes for the Cougars earned the pair NAIA All-American honors.  And with Martin's 7^th place finish, and Anderson's 11^th place finish, Spring Arbor University had the best 1-2 finish of any school in the country.

While Martin and Anderson were competing 1900 miles from the Spring Arbor Campus, the rest of the team was connected by technology and Coach Dante Ottolini's cell phone.  The team here in Spring Arbor gathered in the basement of the library and logged onto Skype while Ottolini logged on with his cell phone.

So, it was business as usual for the SAU Cross Country team.  The pre-race prayer  was shared by the entire team, and the updates during the race was heard by all as Ottolini was huffing and puffing his way around the course and giving the team updates and showing the team back home  how their teammates were doing.  Needless to say, the library on campus might not have been the best place to study on this Saturday afternoon as the guys were yelling and screaming for Martin and Anderson.

This is a tightly knit group, this cross country team and it is experiences like this that makes this team what it is. So, it should come as no surprise that the Spring Arbor Men's Cross Country Team has been selected as the recipient of this year's NAIA Men's Cross Country Champions of Character Team Award.

The recipient is selected from the group of nominees by the Cross Country Coaches Association Executive Committee and is awarded to teams that have displayed exemplary character and sportsmanship on the field, on campus, and in the community.