GSU Women's CC 4th Place - Men's 5th Place at CCACs - Krysta Stanko, Samuel Rocio, Daniel Zavala - Earn Top 15 Runners - All-Conference Honors -

Bettendorf, Iowa - CCACs hosted by St. Ambrose University - Nov. 9, 2024

GSU Women's CC 4th Place - Men's 5th Place at CCACs - Krysta Stanko, Samuel Rocio, Daniel Zavala - Earn Top 15 Runners - All-Conference Honors -

Samuel Rocio 25:31 8k, 9th place, All-Conference and CCAC Freshmen of the year - NAIA Nationals Qualifier

Daniel Zavala 25:49 8k, 11th place, All-Conference - NAIA Nationals Qualifier

Krysta Stanko 23:18 6k, 11th place, All-Conference, and was 4 seconds off the previous course record -just narrowly missed qualifying for NAIA Nationals.

GSU Head Cross Country Coach John Niendorf talked about his team at the CCAC meet" I am so proud of the way these athletes fought today. The conference is incredibly competitive and to make it out of it to Nationals is very difficult. Samuel Rocio and Daniel Zavala ran with a lot of heart. It was not just enough to be all conference (top 15 in the race), but you also had to be the 4th individual qualifier, not on a qualifying team, making it a huge challenge to punch your ticket to Missouri. Samuel was also the programs first freshmen of the year and was able to beat out a lot of amazing runners for that award. Daniel ran with so much grit and it was a hard fought battle for him to get into one of those last four spots."

"My heart aches for Krysta Stanko, who finished 11th place and was All-Conference, but she was the sixth individual qualifier. She was only four seconds off the previous 6k course record, and she finished three spots better than last year when she qualified as a freshman with a 14th place finish. She also shattered the previous GSU 6k record of 24:19. The conference is tough and to make it out to Nationals is a tall order. I felt like Krysta gave it everything she had, and I couldn't be more proud of the tenacity that she showed out on that course today," said Coach Niendorf.