No. 15 Shawnee State (Ohio) wins first RSC Men's Cross Country Championship title
MIDWAY, Ky. -- Shawnee State (Ohio) University -- in its first year in the River States Conference -- claimed the 2023 RSC Men's Cross Country Championship from the Falling Springs Cross Country Course.
Shawnee State, ranked No. 15 in the NAIA Top 25, raced to the conference win with all five of its scorers in the Top 10 individual finishers. The Bears had 26 points in the team standings, which was 32 points better than any of the other 11 teams in attendance.
The Bears had six all-conference performers led by Aiden Kammler in second place overall to earn RSC Newcomer of the Year. SSU coach Conner Flynn, in his first season, was voted RSC Coach of the Year.
University of Rio Grande (Ohio) placed second in the team standings with 58 points. The RedStorm had Tyler Jenkins win the individual title as RSC Runner of the Year for the RedStorm.
IU East, ranked No. 24 in the NAIA, came in third place to round out the top three teams with 65 points. Those were the only three teams under 100.
The top seven individual finishers earned All-RSC First Team honors followed by 8-14 as All-RSC Second Team and 15-21 as All-RSC Third Team.
Along with Shawnee State as the team qualifier for the NAIA National Championship with their conference title, the RSC also advanced four men's individual runners to nationals. The top four finishers not from the SSU team moved on with Jenkins from Rio Grande, Mylan Nocton from IU East and Jacob and Josiah Kocis from Midway (Ky.).
Also named was the RSC Champions of Characer Team with one honoree from each school who best displays the NAIA's five character values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
Click the results link above for the full meet results for teams and individuals.
2023 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS & AWARDS
Team Champion: Shawnee State (Ohio)
Team Runner-Up: Rio Grande (Ohio)
Runner of the Year: Tyler Jenkins, Rio Grande (Ohio)
Newcomer of the Year: Aiden Kammler, Shawnee State (Ohio)
Coach of the Year: Conner Flynn, Shawnee State (Ohio)
ALL-RSC FIRST TEAM
- Tyler Jenkins, Rio Grande
- Aiden Kammler, Shawnee State
- Shawn Little, Shawnee State
- Mylan Nocton, IU East
- Kaiden Lanoy, Shawenee State
- Jacob Kocis, Midway
- Trevor Lany, Shawnee State
ALL-RSC SECOND TEAM
- Josiah Kocis, Midway
- Alex Morris, Shawnee State
- Teddy Jencson, Rio Grande
- Tucker Burris, IU East
- Logan Boggs, Shawnee State
- Richard Bower, IU East
- Kasy Science, Rio Grande
ALL-RSC THIRD TEAM
- Thomas Chapman, St. Mary of the Woods
- Danuel Presinger, Rio Grande
- Ashton Beverly, Rio Grande
- Cameron Nocton, IU East
- Carter Walsman, IU East
- Ramiro Ulunque, Point Park
- Luis Saldana, IU Kokomo
RSC CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER TEAM
- Alice Lloyd – Collin Ramey
- Brescia – Brody Kurz
- IU East – Richard Bower
- IU Kokomo – Alex Carie
- IUPUC – Conner Beatty
- Midway – Connor Byrd
- Oakland City – Pierce Lashley
- Ohio Christian – Jason Springer
- Point Park – Elijah James
- Saint Mary-of-the-Woods – Zachary Weir
- Shawnee State – Jerry O'Dell
- Rio Grande – Zack Whitley
- WVU Tech – Sam Whitcomb