FORT VANCOUVER, Wash. --- For the sixth time in the past 12 years, the University of St. Francis men's cross country team will be bringing home a trophy from the NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championships after securing a fourth-place finish on Friday morning.

The finish was USF's best since 2018 and the fourth time that head coach Jeff Barker's squad placed fourth in the nation. St. Francis totaled 215 points to gain the prize. Milligan University (Tenn.) claimed the title with its 115-point total. Placing in between the two were University of Saint Mary (Kan.) (175 points) and Indiana Wesleyan University (186). A total of 36 teams competed in the championships.

Oscar Tejeda and Michael Reif led the way for the Saints en route to securing NAIA All-America status for the first time by placing among the top 40 runners in the meet. Tejeda finished 15th overall with his time of 25:30.9 over the 8K course. Reif registered a time of 25:47.8 to place 28th.

Omar Paramo and Caleb Bolus battled each other for the No.3 position on the Saints' finishing list. In the end, Paramo edged out Bolus by two-tenths of a second at 26:11.2 to finish 52nd. Bolus crossed the finish line at 26:11.4, good for 53rd place.

Rounding out USF's scoring was Jordan Freese with his 93rd-place effort and 26:45 time.

The top finisher in the field of 332 runners was Oklahoma City University's Zouhair Talbi, who posted a time of 24:43.1.

The Saints' other trophy-level performances came in 2012 when they won it all and in 2016 when they placed second.  

With USF's second-place finish on the women's side, as well, on Friday, the two teams made program history by both bringing home trophies at the same NAIA Championships for the first time. That also allowed them to place second in the combined team scoring at the meet behind Milligan.