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Men's Cross Country 2016 Season Wrap-Up

Men's Cross Country 2016 Season Wrap-Up

The Siena Heights University men's cross country team finished second in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference while qualifying for the NAIA Championships. The Saints finished 29th as a team at the National Championships.

Five runners for SHU earned the Outstanding Runner of the Year award. These runners included Stephen Merchant, Kyler Vanwormer, Anthony Vermilye, Esrom Woldemichael and Timothy Young.

Merchant, Vanwormer, Vermilye and Young all ran their season best 8k at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge. Merchant finished with a time of 25:54.70, while Vanwormer and Vermilye finished with a time of 26:21.99 and 26:23.90, respectively. Young finished the course with a time of 26:41.87.

Woldemichael ran his season best at the WHAC Championships were he finished third with a time of 25:55.6. He also earned WHAC Runner of the Week honors after competing in his first meet of the season going 26:10 at the Jayhawk Cross Country Invitational.

Vanwormer, Vermilye, and Young were also recognized as Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Scholar-Athletes and as Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. In order to be nominated for the WHAC Academic award, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.25 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status while a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.50 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic to be nominated for the NAIA Academic Award.