AVE MARIA, Fla. — For the second year in row, the Ave Maria Men's Cross Country team won the Sun Conference Championship, placing first among the seven teams that competed Saturday morning. The one difference, the Gyrenes were able to clinch the title on their home course as the Gyrenes hosted the Championships for the first time since 2023. The Women's Cross Country team also picked up some hardware as they finished third.

The morning started with the men's race, flipping the order of the Ave Maria Invite from October. Donavan Mattson was the first across the finish line for the Gyrenes, taking third individually with a time of 26:11.0. The other four scoring Gyrenes all finished in the top 10 as Ave Maria dominated the leaderboard. Junior Utah Gusa finished fifth with a time of 26:21.7, followed by sophomore David Giles in sixth with a time of 26:39.7. Sebastian Shea clocked in at seventh place with a time of 26:45.3 and the final scoring Gyrene was Connor Coyle in ninth place with a time of 27:17.6.

With their top five runners placing third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth, the Gyrenes finished was a team score of 30 points. St. Thomas took second place but was 29 points behind the Gyrenes with a total of 59. Their top five runners placed fourth, eighth, 10^th, 18^th and 19^th.

Mattson, Gusa, Giles and Shea were all named First Team All-Conference runners for placing in the top seven individually. Ave Maria had two runners named Second Team All-Conference with Coyle finishing ninth and Michael Donahue who finished 11^th but did not contribute to Ave Maria's final score as he was the sixth Gyrene to cross the finish line.

"I am so proud of the men for just staying focused over the last year," said head coach Alan Webb following the race. "Being ranked first is kind of a scary place to be sometimes, but they got from being the champions last year to repeating so I just applaud them for not letting off the gas and coming away with another championship."

To go along with all of the honors for the men's team, Webb was named the Sun Conference Men's Coach of the Year.

The women raced second on Saturday morning and put together a strong performance as well. Catalina Schwab was the first across the line for the Gyrenes, placing fifth individually with a time of 23:14.4. The Gyrenes had one more runner place in the top 10 as Lily Hynds took eighth place with a time of 23:44.3.

The other scoring Gyrenes were Miriam Murrell in 12^th place with a time of 24:04.8, Annabella Descalzo in 16^th place with a time of 24:28.1 and Maria Gutierrez right behind her in 17^th place with a time of 24:31.4.

As a team, the Gyrenes scored 58 points, placing third among the seven teams in the championship. SCAD took second with 39 points. Southeastern won the team championship with 36 points, making it the first time since 2020 that a team other than SCAD brought home the team trophy.

Hynds and Murrell were both named Second Team All-Conference Runners for finishing between 8^th and 14^th place. Schwab was named a First Team All-Conference Runner by finishing in fifth place. She was also the fastest freshman in the pack and was named the Sun Conference Freshman of the Year.

The Gyrenes now have two weeks to prepare for the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington. The entire men's team earned the Sun Conference auto bid by winning the conference championship. The women's team hope to get a few at-large bids to the championship site.

The Selection Show is set for Tuesday, November 10, at 5 p.m. on the NAIA YouTube channel. It is then Ave Maria will know how many runners there are sending to Washington. The Championships are set for the morning of Friday, November 20, in the Evergreen State.