Maple Leafs place 18th at NAIA Nationals; Kogei, Keitany named All-Americans

The Goshen men’s cross country team competed at the NAIA National Championship at Apalachee Regional Park on Friday. The team placed 18th overall, their second-highest finish among the seven years they have qualified for nationals. Duncan Kogei and Mathew Keitany were NAIA All-Americans – coming in 15th and 39th out of 323 runners, respectively.

It was a cloudy, 64-degree day in Florida’s capital. The men’s race started at 9:30 am, and a dense fog advisory was in effect until 10:00 am, but the race got underway nevertheless. A little over 1,000 meters into the race, the Maple Leafs were in 31st place as a team and Kogei was in 31st place individually. Just 1,000 meters later, however, Goshen had jumped to 20th as a team and Duncan Kogei was leading the pack in first place. Hogan was just 1.2 seconds back and in 18th place.

The Leafs were in 19th place by the 3,000-meter checkpoint and up to 16th at the halfway point. They fell back to 19th with just 1,000 meters to go, but moved ahead of Doane to finish in 18th. The 18th-place finish is the team’s second-best at nationals, behind only the 16th-place finish from the 2023 team.

Kogei fell to 20th place at the 6,000-meter mark but rose to 15th by the end. The late kick meant that Kogei had finished as the highest individual men’s finisher at nationals in program history, topping Keitany’s 17th-place finish from just a year ago. Kogei crossed the line in 24:45.3, which is the 11th-fastest time in program history and his third-fastest time this season. Kogei is in his first season as a Maple Leaf after transferring from the University of Rio Grande, where he competed for two seasons. He was the Crossroads League Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week twice this season.

Keitany was in 172nd place at the first checkpoint but consistently moved up over the course of the race. He broke into the top 40, the requirement to be an All-American, three-quarters of the way through the race and became an All-American for back-to-back years. This is the first time that Goshen has ever had two cross country All-Americans on the same team in the same year. They were one of only nine schools in the race with multiple All-Americans. Kogei joins a small group of four Maple Leafs to be men’s cross country All-Americans (Kogei, Keitany, Nelson Kemboi, Ryan Smith) and Keitany joins Kemboi as the only Maple Leafs to do it more than once. Keitany’s final time was 25:12.7, tied for the 31st best in program history.

Drew Hogan was in All-American position for the first half of the race but dropped to 118th and crossed the line in 26:05.1. Hogan, like Kogei, was a two-time Crossroads League Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week this season and was also the NAIA National Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week during one of those weeks. Hogan has competed at the NAIA National Championships three times, having placed 104th, 107th and now 118th.

Jacob Friesen was Goshen’s fourth runner, finishing in 26:30.3 and 176th place. He finished in 215th place at the championship when the Leafs last competed in it two seasons ago. Jesse Bontrager was Goshen’s fifth runner, with a final time of 26:57.2 – good for 232nd place. Bontrager moved up in the pack from the 3,000 mark all the way to the end, consistently moving up a spot around every 100 meters. Isaiah Beither came in 287th with a 28:12.3 time and Sam Klopfenstein finished in 297th, crossing in 29:03.9.

Goshen came into the meet ranked #17 in the NAIA. The Leafs finished with 464 points, nine points behind Embry-Riddle and four ahead of Rio Grande. The Leafs placed ahead of three teams that were ranked higher than them – #12 Rio Grande, #13 Spring Arbor and #14 Doane.

The meet wraps up a season where the team competed at the national championship for the sixth time in the last seven years and the seventh time overall. Currently, 25 of the top 50 race times in program history are held by four runners who competed today. Drew Hogan holds five spots (as well as the top spot overall), Mathew Keitany holds 13, Duncan Kogei has six and Jacob Friesen has one.

Indiana Wesleyan won the team title, as their 117 points were ahead of The Master’s in second with 128. Jack Anderson from The Master’s won the individual title. He placed fourth in the event a year ago. Taylor won the women’s title with a score of 90, giving the Crossroads League a sweep of the team titles. The Trojans’ sophomore Jaynie Halterman won the individual title and has yet to lose to an NAIA runner in any race in her two seasons of competition so far.

The Goshen indoor track and field season begins on December 5, with the team split at the GVSU Holiday Open in Allendale, Michigan, and the Early Bird Open in Defiance, Ohio.