The Dordt University men's cross country team finished second at the 2025 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Cross Country Championship held at Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Neb.
The Defenders placed five runners in the top 20 to secure a team score of 50 points, just behind host Doane University, which won the meet with 36 points. Concordia (65pts), Northwestern (116pts) and Midland (157pts) round out the top five.
This was the Defenders third runner-up finish to go with its seven conference titles; Dordt has finished among the top five teams at the conference championship 18 straight years.
Truman Johnson won the GPAC individual championship, completing the 8000m course with a personal-best time of 24:45, five seconds ahead of Doane's Alvin Keter. Johnson ran in the lead pack for the duration of the race and moved ahead for good over the last 1000m with an incredible split of 2:57 over the final 1K. The sophomore is the fifth Dordt men's runner to win the GPAC title: Aidan Vorster (2023), Joe Anderson (2022), Davis Tebben (2021) and Eric Steiger (2018).
Both Luke Swanson and Tage Hulstein ran with the lead pack as well and recorded a top 10 finish. Swanson placed fifth overall with a time of 25:02 while Hulstein finished ninth with a season-best time of 25:12.
- "It was the best race of our men's season," commented Dordt University Head Coach Nate Wolf. "In a strong season that has seen us finish on the podium at Griak and fourth of 16 teams at the Holiday Inn Express, this was the strongest team race so far. Truman, Luke and Tage raced smart and tactical races to be in position in the last 1,000m to finish well. Truman made a hard move with 600m and carried that decisive move to an individual conference championship. Hudson and Steven performed very well in their first conference meet to round out our top five. In what was easily the most competitive conference meet in the past decade, the men stepped up and raced their best when it mattered the most."
Freshmen Hudson Hamilton and Steven Hebert rounded out Dordt's scoring five, finishing 17th and 18th, respectively, with times of 25:49.5 and 25:54.1.
Seniors Levi Landman (19th - 25:56) and Chase Kamp (20th - 26:02) also contributed strong performances, placing 19th and 20th, respectively, and helping solidify Dordt's depth in the field.
Derrek Vander Leest (26th - 26:22), Isaac Fagan (28th - 26:22) and Trace Obbink (40th - 27:07) complete the Dordt finishers.
Notes:
- Dordt's total time was 2:06.44 with an average of 25:20
- the Defenders 1-5 split was 1:08; 1-7 split was 1:16
- Dordt has finished among the top four teams in every meet this season
- this was Johnson's first career win
- Johnson has three top 10's this season, four in his career
- Johnson's time today was a 16-second personal best (25:01 - Holiday Inn Express Classic)
- this was Swanson's third top 10 finish this season and seventh for his career
- Hulstein ran a season-best time by 47 seconds and posted his second top 10 finish this season, seventh for his career
- Landman finished in the top 25 for the second time this season, fifth of his career
- Kamp recorded his third top 25 finish this season, seven of his career
- the six Defenders who competed at last year's GPAC Championship, on this same course, all improved their time from last year
- Truman - 2025 time: 24:45 / last year: 27:04
- Luke - 2025 time: 25:02 / last year: 26:16
- Tage - 2025 time: 25:12 / last year: 26:19
- Levi - 2025 time: 25:56 / last year: 26:40
- Derrek - 2025 time: 26:22 / last year: 27:18
- Trace - 2025 time: 27:07 / last year: 28:06
- both Johnson and Swanson qualified as individuals for the NAIA National Championship
- the NAIA will announce its list of qualifiers (teams / individuals) on Tuesday, Nov. 11
