INDEPENDENCE, Ore. – The Corban University Men's and Women's Cross Country programs concluded the 2025 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships with the most All-Conference finishers in a single season since the 2017 fall school year, as three different Warriors secured All-Conference honors via a top 15 finish in their respective 6k and 8k races, with the men clinching a pair of top six finishers and the women led by their senior standout's own top six performance.
"I was very pleased with how today's conference races went for our teams," began Corban associate head coach Stuart Eagon when asked to break down the results from Oak Knoll Golf Course. "The women competed well! We likely came up a few places short of qualifying for nationals as a team, but Abby O. qualified as an individual after finishing the highest a Corban women's runner has finished at a conference meet in close to 15 years. Josie was clutch as our fifth team scorer today and I thought we did a great job competing to pick up as many places as possible. We will probably finish around 30th in the final national poll, but the future is bright, and we have great things in store! All glory to God for the results today!"
After showing signs of an All-Conference type season throughout the Warriors' regular season competitions throughout 2025, senior Abigail Oosterhout clinched the sixth-overall position in today's championship meet, marking the first time a Warrior has earned a top six finish in the CCC Championships since Lexi Mitzel placed 5th in the 2013 race. Her 22:13.5 final time from today isn't a personal best, meaning there are plenty of improvements she can still make as she prepares for the national meet in less than two weeks' time.
Corban's second, third, and fourth finishers all placed within the top 35 runners, with sophomore Carrie Babcock (23:23.2) earning 27th, sophomore Shaelee Killorn (23:47.9) in 32nd, and freshman Adaline McDowell (23:57.4) in 34th. Freshman Josie Rothman (24:47.0) was the final team scorer today for the Navy and Gold in 49th, while freshman Kate Dickson (25:17.2) served as the if-necessary sixth-woman tiebreaker with her 57th place finish.
Also finishing their final race of the 2025 season for the Corban women's cross country program was freshman Amelia Anstrand (25:22.7 – 59th), sophomore Makayla Rose 25:27.4 – 61st), sophomore Emalie Lindberg (27:17.8 – 80th), and freshman Madyson Combs (27:41.1 – 82nd).
"If cross country was scored with four runners, the men would have finished just two points off a conference championship, meaning we were right there with the top teams in terms of top four runners," analyzed Eagon regarding the men's race. "However, the beautiful thing about this sport is that every runner matters, and even though we ended up fifth today at the CCC meet, it's not unreasonable for us to have a chance to be the top school from the conference at the national meet in two weeks. When our top runners are healthy, we're right there in the mix, and I expect our men to be in a much better state of health come nationals."
Just as he had done last year at the conference championship meet, junior Jack Gladfelter once again bested his prior CCC placement finish, as he was the first to cross the finish line behind the Trinity Western University All-Conference performers with a final time of 24:15.0 and a third place position. Senior Zander Moha (24:40.9) repeated his success from 2024 as well, as he hustled down the stretch to finish in sixth and provide Corban with two of the top six men's finishers.
Junior Braydon Lee (25:23.9) was just three spots outside of All-Conference honors having secured the 18th overall position, with sophomore Bennet Mason (25:39.8) hot on his heels in 24th. The Pacific Northwest fall bug caught hold of freshman Logan Mason (27:02.6) which resulted in a 62nd placement for the Warriors' final team finisher, with freshman Kia Kearns (27:34.3) filing in at 68th. The final Navy and Gold cloaked student-athletes to claim finishing marks in today's championships meet include both senior Nathan Pfaff (27:53.2 – 75th) and freshman Julius Pokorny (28:03.3 – 77th).
Gladfelter, Moha, and Oosterhout have all clinched individual qualifications for the 2025 NAIA National Championships and will pack their bags for Tallahassee, Florida in the coming weeks for the national meet on November 21st. Both the men's and women's teams have an opportunity to earn an at-large team selection to the national meet, yet will need to wait until the upcoming Selection Show on Tuesday, November 11th at 2pm PT to see if the Corban will be called.
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