A young and fresh Cyclone team had their biggest test of the season at the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference and NJCAA Region IV championships in Galesburg, Illinois. They qualified two for the national tournament.

Running on the biggest stage to date, as a team the Cyclones took second in conference and fourth in the region. Grant Wright (28:19, fifth in region, second in conference) and Suhayb Froukh (28:24, sixth, third) each earned All-Conference and All-Region honors. Their top-15 finish earned them a slot to run at nationals.

Carlos Galvan (30:21, 24th in region, 12th in conference), Chris Santoyo (31:00, 28th, 14th), Nick Marfoe (31:59, 37th, 20th) and Matt Pierce (37:42, 52nd, 25th) put in strong efforts as well.

"I am very happy for Grant and Suhayb and know they will represent their teammates well in two weeks. They worked together the whole race, and that was so fun to witness," said Head Coach Dimitri Dimizas. "They've put in so much work to get to this point. I'm looking forward to those two getting some great experience at the national level and using it as a spring board to bring their whole team to nationals next season.

"Even though the team result wasn't what we were looking for, I can't fault any of the men for their efforts. The week leading up to this meet brought about many individual challenges, and I hope they all learn to appreciate what they have even when things don't go their way. We knew going into the race that it was going to be a close fight with a couple other teams, and that's exactly how it played out," Dimizas added. "All six of them are first-year college runners, and the experience they earned will serve them well going into next season."

Wright and Froukh head to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the national tournament on Nov. 9 with their counterpart from the Cyclone women's team, Victoria Granz.