TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Men's Cross Country team competed in their first ever National Championship as a team in program history. The Gyrenes finished in 30^th place, ahead of seven other schools.

Freshman David Giles was the top runner for the Gyrenes, finishing the 8k in 25:59.6. It was his third sub-26-minute race of the season. He finished 106^th individually.

Donavan Mattson was next on the team, clocking in at 26:19.9. Following him were Connor Coyle at 26:32.0, Sam Paga at 26:42.3, Sebastian Shea at 27:11.7, John Halvorsen at 27:26.9 and Michael Donahue at 27:41.7.

The Gyrenes finished with a score of 719 thanks to their five fastest runners. Ave Maria beat Columbia, who finished in 31^st place, by nine points. The other schools AMU placed ahead of were Mount Mercy, Benedictine, Our Lady of the Lake, Mobile, Simpson and Wiley.

In the women's 6k National Championship, Ave Maria had one runner with Madison Thomas finishing in 242^nd place, clocking in at 24:21.5.

In the women's race, Jaynie Halterman of Taylor won the individual National Championship, and the entire Taylor squad won the team championship. It is the second consecutive national title for Halterman and the second team championship for Taylor.

On the men's side, Jack Anderson of The Master's won the individual championship and Indiana Wesleyan won the team championship. It is the first red banner for IWU in program history.

The Gyrenes now look to the track and field season were they will look to continue their dominance after winning two individual national championships last season.