The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the 2015 National Christian College Athletics Association (NCCAA) Cross Country Championships. The men finished in 10th place and the women finished in 15th place.

Head coach Jason Covarrubias is proud of the way his team has accomplished goals set in the beginning of the season, “I am so proud of these kids. During the “Mountaintop Experience” in Alpine, Texas we set season goals. The men wanted to finish Top 10 at the NCCAA National Championships and the women wanted to finish Top 15. That is what they did.”

In the 8K the men placed 10th out of 18 teams with an average time of 27:28. Jerry Nava led the Lions, finishing 26th out of 135 runners, coming in at 26:25. Closely behind Nava was Walker Loyd, who came in 34th place at 26:42.  In 57th place, Gabriel Price finished 27:22, Adrian Cedillo was 85th, Brad Beimler was 105th and Eric Jones finished 129th.

The women competed in a 5K and finished 15th out of 21 teams. In addition to the team placements, SAGU junior Destiny Garza finished in 7th place overall out of 142 runners. Garza finished in 18:12, earning her an NCCAA All-American spot. Freshman Genny McCullough finished 64th at 20:51, Kelly Cook came in 86th at 21:27.  In 108th was Markia Sanders at 22:16 and Julie Alvarez finished at 26:39.

Garza competed at the NAIA National Cross Country Championship on Saturday, November 21, 2015. The meet was held in Charlotte, North Carolina.