LEAVENWORTH - Kansas Wesleyan's Damion Jackson showed once again why is one of the best distance runners in the Kansas Conference.
Jackson was the first across the finish line in Saturday morning at the KCAC Men's Cross Country Championship.
Jackson, a junior from Gypsum, ran the 8-kilometer course in 24 minutes, 57.76 seconds finishing ahead of runner-up Kenneth Howell of Saint Mary (25:00.59). Jackson placed second in the 2024 KCAC Championship (25:09.8).
"I don't know the last time we had an individual KCAC meet champion, but Damion executed at a really high level," coach Garrett Young said.
The Coyotes placed second in the team standings with 44 points. Saint Mary, the fifth-ranked team in the NAIA, was first with 32 points while Evangel took third with 72. It was KWU's third consecutive second-place finish.
Jake Cruz placed sixth for the Coyotes (25:26.85), Ethan Ochana 10th (25:38.84), Evan Pearce 12th (25:39.69) and Braulio Torres 15th (25:43.52) in rounding out the scoring.
"Jake Cruz left it out there for our guys again," Young said. "We had some great efforts, some great individual races out there. Ethan Ochana ran a really good race, a really aggressive race. Evan Pearce really hit a breakthrough today.
"It wasn't quite enough for the team title, but I am really proud of the men's team. I think we knew that it was a tall task at hand that we were asking them to go after. I felt like for the most part we executed at a high level."
Young said he's pleased with the progress the men made during the season.
"We definitely took some strides this year," he said. "We have some seniors out there that have been through this and really given us some good efforts. I wanted to win it for those guys.
"I think the team as a whole did work really hard this season. Definitely some ups and downs but we had some talks about really putting high effort out, really attacking, being brave, taking risks and I think that kind of culminated today with a lot of sharp performances."
Wesleyan had a huge contingent in the men's race. Tytus Reed placed 19th (26:02.82), Wyatt Johnson 22nd (26:11.02), Luke Adams 26th (26:23.52), Triston Cottone 27th (26:30.44), Austin Schaeffer 30th (26:42.14), Ian Doss 38th (27:06.58), Jude Nelson 42nd (27:19.26), Nicolas Martinez 48th (27:31.48), Mauricio Mendez 52nd (27:41.89), Brodie Bradshaw 54th (27:54.42), Cohen Greve 62nd (28:16.46), Connor Olsen 66th (28:31.91), Barka Bapeng Jr. 71st (29:11.17), Will Childers 73rd (29:15.94), Logan Topp 82nd (29:43.16) and Efrain Santibanez 97th (31:42.10).
The Coyotes will have to wait until the NAIA selection show Tuesday to see if they get a berth in the national championship Nov. 21 in Tallahassee, Fla.