CHANNAHON, Ill. -- University of St. Francis runner Alberto Fernandez Arango was the first place finisher at the 2026 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Championships and the rest of his teammates followed the junior's lead as the Fighting Saints ran away with their seventh straight league title and 11th in the past 12 years on Saturday morning.

USF scored 19 points with the Saints having five of the meet's first seven runners cross the finish line while seven of its runners secured All-Conference honors.  Head coach Trevor Howard's club totaled 33 points less than second-place finisher Governors State University (52 points) followed by Olivet University's 65.

Fernandez Arango paced the eight-team, 77-runner field with his time of 25:03.6 to earn CCAC Runner of the Year honors.  That was exactly three seconds faster than teammate Miguel Garcia who completed the 6K course at Channahon Community Park in second place at 25:06.6.  Placing third overall was USF's Tyler Anderson at 25:10.8.

Each of those two runners claimed all-conference accolades as did Cris Estanol, Jack Wright, Spencer Moreno and Manuel Soto for finishing among the top 15 runners in the field.  Estanol registered a time of 25:43.7 to place sixth overall, Wright was sixth (25:47.9), Moreno crossed the finish line in ninth place (25:54.1) and Soto was 11th (26:17.3).

Landin Stillwell and Brady Prokop also placed among the top 25 runners, finishing in the 20th (27:05.9) and 23rd (27:22.1) positions, respectively.

Howard joined the trophy parade by being recognized as the Men's Cross Country CCAC Coach of the Year for the fourth year in a row.

Up Next
By earning the CCAC title, the USF men's cross country team receives the league's automatic bid to compete at the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Wash. on Friday, Nov. 20.

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