TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Despite the foggy conditions, it became clear that Southern Oregon men's cross country is a top team in the nation after a sixth-place finish behind a pair of All-Americans at the NAIA Cross Country Championships on Friday morning at Apalachee Regional Park. 

Just a year ago, Mason Weisgerber watched the NAIA Championships from home after a 21st-place finish at the Cascade Conference Championships. This year, he completely flipped the script and came through with the best race of his collegiate career thus far, finishing as the national runner-up to earn his first cross country All-American honor and completing the 8,000-meter course in 24 minutes 17.11 seconds

He ran the first 5,000 meters in 15:16 and sat in 11th place with the chase group, about four seconds behind the leaders. "After the first 5K, I wanted to get into the next pack," said Weisgerber. "Eventually, I found myself in third place. With about a K and a half to go, I just kept getting closer to the top two. I finally made a move up the final hill and tried to lose them." 

He held the lead with about 120 meters remaining, but was ultimately passed by The Master's Jack Anderson, who won the individual title in 24:15. 

Carter Stedman earned his first All-American, placing fourth in 24:33, and helped SOU to its best placement in seven years. He sat in ninth through 6,000 meters with Weisgerber before passing five more runners by the finish. 

"I'm really proud of the season I had," said Stedman. "To have the best training partner in the country in Mason is a privilege, and I'm looking forward to what we do during track and going into next year."

Southern Oregon is the first team in eleven years not named Oklahoma City to put two runners in the top-4. Weisgerber and Stedman are also the highest-placing duo under head coach Grier Gatlin's tenure at Southern Oregon. 

"It's always gratifying to place better than your rankings," said Gatlin. The Raiders were 10th in the Coaches' Top 25 Poll entering the meet and only 18th at the beginning of October. 

The Raiders' two freshmen came in next. Josh Hepner ran 25:35 to place 70th, and Gus Blank scored for his third meet in a row, placing 129th in 26:07, and Trenton Abraham finished moments after, placing 144th in 26:13 to round out SOU's scoring. 

SOU jumped from 15th place to 6th in the final 2K of the race thanks to Hepner, Blank, and Abraham passing a collective of 125 runners. "They ran consistently and moved up the entire race," said Gatlin. "To have patience in a large field like this is really difficult to execute, and to have two frosh do that was impressive."  

Weisgerber's second place and Stedman's fourth are the third and fourth-best placements by any Raider in program history. "I'm very happy for Carter and Mason," said Gatlin. "They've worked really hard all year."

Southern Oregon finished as the top Cascade Conference team, edging out CCC Champions and seventh-place Eastern Oregon by one point, 289 -290. Trinity Western (B.C) was ninth (345), Corban 13th (383), and College of Idaho 14th (404). 

Indiana Wesleyan won the team title with 117 points behind five All-American performances. 

MEN'S TEAM RESULTS (Top 10) – 1. Indiana Wesleyan 117, 2. The Master's (Calif.) 128, 3. Cumberlands (Ky.) 160, 4. Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 239, 5. Taylor (Ind.) 247, 6. Southern Oregon 289, 7. Eastern Oregon 290, 8. Milligan (Tenn.) 341, 9. Trinity Western (B.C.) 345, 10. Saint Mary (Kan.) 346

SOU MEN'S 8K RESULTS (of 326 total entries)
2. Mason Weisgerber, 24:17.11
4. Carter Stedman, 24:33.45
70. Josh Hepner, 25:35.98
129. Gus Blank, 26:07.94
144. Trenton Abraham, 26:13.59
241. Logan Huffman, 27:06.29
283. Hayden Roth, 28:07.4