Milligan becomes first program to sweep since 2017, capturing first team titles in either gender, with Australian athlete Bearzi prevailing in cross country finals debut; Moroccan standout Talbi gives Oklahoma City three straight individual crowns and four of past five, along with Shaw winning in 2017 and 2019

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Zouhair Talbi won his second national cross country championship in 225 days.

Milligan University in Tennessee won a pair of team titles in less than two hours Friday at the NAIA Championships at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Wash.

RESULTS

Talbi, a junior at Oklahoma City, defended his 8-kilometer crown from April 9 in Iowa, doing so in similar fashion by prevailing over teammate Shimales Abebe.

Talbi, a Moroccan athlete, clocked 24 minutes, 43.1 seconds and Abebe ran 24:56.6, helping Oklahoma City finish 10th overall with 282 points. It marked the third consecutive men’s title for Oklahoma City and fourth in the past five NAIA national finals, including victories by Mark Shaw in 2017 and 2019.

Talbi became the first NAIA male athlete to repeat as champion since Kennedy Kithuka of Wayland Baptist in Texas in 2010-11. He prevailed by a 20-second margin against Abebe in the April championship race.

Milligan placed five scorers in the top 60, led by Aaron Jones finishing 11th in 25:21.3 plus Nathan Baker earning 14th in 25:29.1 and Eli Cramer securing 20th in 25:40, to help the Buffaloes secure their first men’s national title with a 115-175 victory over St. Mary of Kansas.

Johnathan Bowen was seventh in 25:15.2 for St. Mary.

Indiana Wesleyan, led by Steven Ott placing 17th in 25:35.6, took third with 186 points and St. Francis of Illinois finished fourth with 215 points. Oscar Tejeda was 15th in 25:30.9 for St. Francis.

Taylor of Indiana, the men’s team champion in April, placed 11th with 307 points, led by Daniel Gerber earning 12th in 25:22.7.

Australian athlete Alyssa Bearzi made her first cross country final a memorable one for Milligan, holding off Sydney Little Light of Rocky Mountain in the 5-kilometer championship by an 18:14.9 to 18:16.8 margin.

Lemi Wutz was fifth in 18;29.1 and Avery DeWolf placed 11th in 18:38.2 for the Buffaloes, who had five scorers in the top 75 overall to secure a 122-141 victory over reigning champion St. Francis of Illinois, led by a 17th-place finish from Sabrina Baftiri (18:44.7).

It marked the first time since 2014 that a women’s program swept the individual and team titles in the same season. And it was the first national championship individually or as a team for Milligan, which became the first program to sweep the men’s and women’s titles since British Columbia in 2017.

Bearzi had placed 11th in the 5,000-meter final in March at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in South Dakota, but this fall was her first cross country season with the Buffaloes.

Cornerstone of Michigan, which had Nygia Pollard (18:33.8) place seventh and Anna Martin (18:36) finish ninth, took third with 149 points and Taylor – highlighted by a sixth-place effort from Abbey Brennan (18:32.7) – finished fourth with 164 points.