VANCOUVER, Wash.- Three Ave Maria University cross country runners competed Friday morning at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships, held at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington. The women's team was represented by first team All-Sun Conference selections Mary Goetz and Theresa Long, while Joseph Perreault was the representative of AMU's men's team.

Mary Goetz finished her illustrious Ave Maria career with her fourth run at the National Championships. The Kansas native ran the 5k course in 19:31.70, finishing her final race as a Gyrene in the top 100 of the nation. Goetz's time was fourth among Sun Conference runners in the race, and saw her place in the top quarter of the field with the best runners in the nation. 

Theresa Long made her first appearance in the national championships for the Gyrenes, and finished the race in the top 150 with a time of 19:55.40. Long was among a group of 157 runners (of the 340 that started the race) that ran the Fort Vancouver course in under 20 minutes. Long's time marked just the second time in school history that two Ave Maria women have run the national course in under 20 minutes.

Milligan (Tenn.) won their first national championship with three of the top-11 finishers, including Alyssa Bearzi claiming the individual title. Milligan posted 122 points as a team, edging out St. Francis (Ill.) in second with 141 points. Cornerstone (Mich.) took third with 149 points, while Taylor (Ind.) came in fourth with 164 points. College of Idaho rounded out the top-five teams with 183 points.

Friday also marked the second nationals appearance of sophomore Joseph Perreault. The Sanford, Maine native finished his second straight All-Conference season by running the course in the Pacific Northwest in 28:19.9. Perreault joined Gabriel Hogan as the only Gyrenes in program history to run in multiple NAIA National Championships.

Milligan also captured its first national championship in school history on the men's side. The Buffs posted a team score of 115 points to beat out national runner-up St. Mary (Kan.), which finished with 175 points. Indiana Wesleyan took third with 186 points, while St. Francis (Ill.) grabbed fourth (215 points) and College of Idaho rounded out the top-five with 222 points. Oklahoma City's Zouhair Talbi won the men's 8k individual title with a time of 24 minutes, 43.1 seconds, beating out the field by 13 seconds. 

Ave Maria concludes the 2021 season, which was another productive season for head coach Elizabeth Feger and the Gyrenes. AMU placed five runners on the All-Sun Conference teams, a group that includes four runners slated to return in 2022 and three freshmen.