KANSAS — The 2026 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) Cross Country Championships took place Saturday, November 7, hosted by Evangel University at the Allison Sports Town facility in Springfield, Mo. The following is a meet recap written by meet announcer and long-time contributor to the KCAC, Carol Swenson.
Kansas Wesleyan Women and Saint Mary Men Win KCAC Cross Country titles
by Carol R Swenson, Meet Announcer
An early November morning made for cross country greeted the KCAC harriers as they gathered to take on the challenge of Evangel University’s home course at the Allison Sports Town complex in Springfield, Missouri. Unlike a year earlier with the hills of the Saint Mary course made treacherous by recent rains, the footing for the 2026 KCAC championships was made perfect by rains earlier in the week.
MEN'S RECAP
The University of Saint Mary men entered the meet ranked #20 in the latest NAIA national poll and was again the favorite for another team title as it reloaded with three top 10 finishers from 2025 and seven of the KCAC’s top 10 individual performances in 2026. But, Kansas Wesleyan was ready to challenge by countering with the defending champion in Damion Jackson, plus three other All-KCAC performers from last season.
From the opening gun, the battle for the individual title developed into a two-man race between Friends’ freshman Joaquin Miranda and USM soph Derebe Carr (4th in ’25) as they broke away from the pack as they passed the 2-kilometer mark. Finally in the final 2-kilometers, Miranda was able to separate from Carr for a seven-second win in 24:27.30.
Kansas Wesleyan had four of the next eight finishers, Ethan Ochana (3rd), Braulio Torres (6th), Evan Pearce (9th), and Jackson (10th), and it looked like the Coyotes were on the verge of their first team win since 1978. But, mixed among the Coyotes were a pair of USM Spires, Landon Englert (4th) and Mohamed Elgossy (8th), plus Bethel’s Asa Johnson (5th) and Evangel’s Ethan Smith (7th).
A pack of four Saint Mary Spires, Jorge Perez, Jacob Lindstrom, James White, Camden Bachman followed in 11th through 14th trailed by McPherson’s Brian Fackert (15th), an Evangel duo of Chance Cunningham (16th) and Blake Smith (17th) plus Bethel’s Marcus Fiedler (18th) all ahead of the Coyotes’ final scorer (Jude Nelson) who was pushed back to 19th. That was enough to allow Saint Mary to escape with the 10-point team win, its 14th straight team title, but with its smallest winning margin since 2016.
Individuals qualifying for the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington, on November 20th would depend on the final NAIA National poll to be released on Tuesday, November 10th. Guaranteed spots are Joaquin Miranda (Friends), Asa Johnson (Bethel), and Ethan Smith (Evangel). But, depending on whether Kansas Wesleyan moves up into the top 30 in the final poll will decide whether Ethan Ochana, Braulio Torres, and Evan Pearce go as individuals or part of a qualifying team. If KWU does gain a spot in the top 30 of the final, Brian Fackert (McPherson), Chance Cunningham (Evangel), and Blake Smith (Evangel) will get the final individual qualifying spots.
WOMEN'S RECAP
Very similar to a year earlier, the #18 ranked women of the University of Saint Mary were the pre-meet favorites, but they also knew they would have to run an almost perfect race to hold off the #23 ranked and defending champion Coyotes of Kansas Wesleyan University.
This year, the women of Kansas Wesleyan put a pack together up front early and held on, finishing with all five of its scorers in the top 10 for a winning team score of 27 points.
The Spires’ Serenity Larson came in as the favorite for the individual title, thanks to having posted the KCAC’s only sub-21-minute season best time, and she performed as expected. Taking control in the opening 1,000 meters on the Allison Sports Town course, she led by two seconds at the 2-km mark, eight seconds at the 4-km, before closing out her 14-second win in a KCAC Championship meet record time of 21:20.06.
Kansas Wesleyan’s Kirstin Hackney, the only pre-meet three-time medalist in the field, attempted to challenge Larson as they broke away from the field with Makayla Little (KWU) bridging the gap back to the chase pack led by USM’s Ava Klaassen. Friends’ Rose Buck was the first non-Coyote/non-Spire in the chase pack and went on to finish fifth ahead of KWU’s Micah Dickens. Another 15 seconds back came Delaney Bond (KWU) ahead of USM’s Mesa Casper along with Hailey Nordhus, the Coyotes’ final scorer in ninth place, and Jayden Chambers of host Evangel. Too little, too late came a Spires pack with four finishers among the next six, broken up by a pair of Evangel runners.
With their second straight team title, Kansas Wesleyan became the first team other than the University of Saint Mary to win back-to-back KCAC team titles since the Coyotes did it in 2009 and 2010. With the Spires again finishing second, Evangel and Friends rounded out the top four with Tabor fifth.
Earning individual national qualifying spots with top 20 scoring finishes while competing for what will likely be non-NAIA qualifying teams are Buck (5th) and Chambers (10th) along with Evangel’s Kadence Oehlschlager (12th), Tessa Lovell (15th), and Adriana McGregor (18th) along with Harper Brickley of Tabor (17th).
TEAM SCORING
MEN
1. Saint Mary 37
2. Kansas Wesleyan 47
3. Evangel 86
4. Friends 112
5. Bethel 159
6. Tabor 201*
7. Sterling 201*
8. Oklahoma Wesleyan 233
9. McPherson 258
10. Southwestern 292;
11. Bethany 309
12. York 330
13. Ottawa 364.
[*Tiebreaker (6th runner): Tabor 47th, Sterling 55th]
WOMEN
1. Kansas Wesleyan 27
2. Saint Mary 37
3. Evangel 77
4. Friends 96
5. Tabor 169
6. Oklahoma Wesleyan 212
7. Sterling 217
8. Bethany 253
9. Bethel 256
10. McPherson 294
11. Ottawa 295
12. York 308
A complete listing of individual finishes and team scoring are available at www.heartlandtiming.com.
—KCAC—