Four cross country runners crossed the finish line on Sat. just in time to qualify for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships in Lawrence, Kansas in two weeks. 

Point Park hosted the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (KIAC) Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships where the university’s men and women took team and individual awards.  

Having this crucial meet at Schenley Park was added help for the Pioneers, according to Katie Guarnaccia.

“The meet being held at Schenley Park was a great advantage and really helped me prepare for the meet,” Guarnaccia said. “We ran the course a lot during practices for light runs and workouts, so I was familiar with running it and it made the race a breeze. It could have just been another Tuesday afternoon practice.” 

The women’s team placed second, out of eight teams, behind Asbury University. This was their highest team finish ever at a conference meet. Guarnaccia and Kelsey Wilkins set a new 5K school record running 19:24. 

“It felt amazing to finish in the top three, but I was honestly more excited to break 19:30,” Wilkins said. “It was one of my major goals this year. 

Guarnaccia crossed the finish line second overall, just a fraction of a second before Wilkins, who ended up placing third. Ashley Czerniewski-Hagan placed sixth. 

Garnaccia, Wilkins and Czerniewski-Hagan will compete at the NAIA National Championship after being among the top four individual finishers that were not from the championship team. Only four individual qualifier spots were open and Point Park took three of them. 

“When I found out I definitely qualified for Nationals, I wasn’t too surprised, but I gave out a little ‘Woo-hoo!’ and hugged some of my teammates,” Guarnaccia said. “I definitely had a giant smile on my face.” 

All of the runners can agree that the best part of the championship was being with their teammates for the last time even though Guarnaccia described it as “bittersweet.” 

“My favorite part of the championship meet was running the last race of the season with my awesome team,” Eric Torres said. 

The men’s team placed fifth out of eight teams in the 8K. Torres placed second overall with a time of 27:18 to claim one of the four individual qualifications for Nationals. 

“I felt very accomplished knowing that I tried my hardest,” Torres said. “I was really happy because this season has been so great that I want it to continue.” 

Competition was tight between Torres and Dallas Guy for most of the 8K. Although Guy ended up with the KIAC individual title, Torres made sure Point Park was represented at the NAIA Nationals. 

Torres is the first male freshman to qualify for the national meet in Point Park’s cross country program’s history. 

This will be the Pioneers third showing at nationals, but all four of this year’s qualifiers will be doing so for the first time in their careers. 

“We’ll be putting in the time and working hard these next two weeks to prepare for Nationals,” Torres said.