NATCHITOCHES – SFA put forth a dominant performance Friday morning, placing five athletes in the top 10 at the Southland Men's Cross Country Championship. That success started with Nathan Kapel's impressive race, securing a first-place individual finish for the Lumberjacks for the second straight season at this event. 

This is the sixth team championship in program history for SFA and their first since 2005, the final year of a five-year run of team titles on the men's side. The team's official 20-points total is the second best score in conference history, trailing only Abilene Christian who tallied 19 in 1965. 

Kapel's 22:54.80 time paced all runners though teammate Paul Kiprotich followed closely behind with a 22:55.40 time in second and Riley Elliott took third with a 23:01.10 time. Ryan Binskin clocked a 23:23.80 time in sixth and Sam Golla claimed eighth at 23:34.60.

Golla's performance helped him earn Freshman of the Year honors while Kapel went home with both the confernence's Newcomer and Athlete of the Year accolades. SFA head coach Robert Hansen doubled-up on Coach of the Year honors after SFA's men and women captured the team titles. 

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished in second with 52 points followed by UIW in third with 67, Lamar with 130 and UTRGV with 173 to round out the top five. 

HCU finished third with 116 points followed by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in fourth with 125 and Texas A&M-Commerce in fifth at 143. 

The first team all-conference consists of Kapel, Kiprotich, Elliott, Mathayo Bundotich and Dominic Kiptum of A&M-Corpus Christi, Binskin and UIW's Eric Pineda.

The second team consists of Golla, Kyle Lowth and Ewan Wheelwright of A&M-Corpus Christi, UIW's Anthony Zapata, Jeremiah Garcia of East Texas A&M and Andres Padron of Lamar. 

TEAM STANDINGS – FULL RESULTS

Place	School	Points
1	SFA	29
2	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	52
3	UIW	67
4	Lamar	130
5	UTRGV	173
6	McNeese	178
7	East Texas A&M	192
8	HCU	199
9	New Orleans	221
10	Nicholls	332