The Dordt University men's cross country team won the 2026 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championship held this morning on the Defenders home course.
The 17th-ranked Defenders captured their eighth conference title, all since the 2018 season, most among current GPAC members and the second most overall (Nebraska Wesleyan - 11). Dordt totaled 45 points and held off both Doane (62pts) and Concordia (69) in the final team standings.Â
Dordt has finished among the top five teams in 18 consecutive GPAC championships.
Six Defenders finished among the top 15Â and earned all-conference honors, led by sophomore Jackson Prins who posted a personal-best 8K time of 24:55. This is the first time Prins has been the top Defenders runner and is his second top 10 finish of the season. Jamison Velzke moved up three spots over the final 3000m to finish just behind Prins and in sixth place with a career-best time of 25:02, eight seconds faster than his previous best. Caleb Van Beek gave the Defenders a third runner to finish in the top 10, placing ninth overall with a personal-best time of 25:13. Van Beek moved up two spots in the final standings over the final 1000m.
Dordt's final two counters towards the team score, Bennett Visser and Hudson Hamilton, placed 12th and 13th, respectively. Visser posted a personal-best time of 25:25, 18 seconds faster than his previous best, while Hamilton came across the finish line in 25:28, his second fastest time of the season. Tyler Rozenboom was the final Defenders runner to place in the top 15, finishing 15th with a personal best time of 25:30.
Trace Obbink (16th - 25:30) and Brett Gifford (17th - 25:36) were next to finish as the Defenders had eight runners among the top 20. Justin Kroeze (23rd - 25:59) and Lawson Burkhart (33rd - 26:25) completed the Defenders line-up.
"It was a great day for our men's team, commented Dordt University Head Coach Nate Wolf. "Jackson Prins continued his strong end to the season, leading the men's team in the results. Jamison Velzke had his best race of the year, gaining valuable points in the last few meters of the race to earn his first All-Conference performance in cross country. Caleb Van Beek, Bennett Visser and Hudson Hamilton all closed well, catching runners to provide the final cushion for the men's team in the final results. This group has been as focus of a group as I have had the privilege to coach. To see them put a strong season together has been rewarding and to watch them cap it off with a conference championship was a lot of fun. I look forward to this group getting the experience of racing at the national meet."
Joseph Cross (Mount Marty) was the individual GPAC Champion as the junior completed the 8k course in 24:29, 18 seconds in front of runner-up Jayden Wall (Doane). Cross led from start to finish and recorded his third consecutive top 15 finish at the conference championship.
Notes:Â
- Dordt's total time of 1-5 runners: 2:06:04, with an average time of 25:13
- the Defenders 1-5 split was 34 seconds; 1-7 split was 36 seconds
- the Defenders won four meets this season and finished among the top five in all five competitions
- six Defenders ran personal best times:
- Prins recorded his second top 10 finish of the season
- Velzke matched his career-best finish and has two top 10's this season
- Van Beek has two top 10's this season
- Visser secured his fourth top 25 finish of the season
- Hamilton has four top 25 finishes this season
- Obbink has finished in the top 25 in every meet this season
- Gifford earned his third top 25 finish
- Kroeze has a pair of top 25 finishes
- Dordt has won eight of the last nine GPAC titles
- the Defenders are second behind Nebraska Wesleyan in most conference titles won
- the Defenders secured the GPAC's automatic bid into the NAIA National Championship
- this is the 28th season that Dordt qualified for nationals as either a team (12) or individual (16)
- the NAIA will announce its list of qualifiers (teams / individuals) on Tuesday, Nov. 10
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