COLUMBIA, MO –
Dominic Malel capped off a historic season with a 15th-place NAIA All-American, leading the Tigers to a 26th-place team finish.
Malel stayed within a three place spread throughout the entirety of the race. Within the final kilometer he made up two spots from 17th to 15th to run his second best time of his career of 24:20.2.
Lukas Smithson has been a consistent second man in the ladder half of the season. Smithson ran his second fastest time of his career of 25:14.7 placing 113th overall.
The duo of
Martin Batel and
Jean-Benoit Merte came in clutch for Campbellsville placing within two spots of each other. Batel was 157th in the race running 25:32.0, Merte placed 159th running 25:32.7. The duo stayed within five seconds of each other at the kilometer splits throughout the race.
Brayden Kaelin had the best race of the day for the Tigers. Kaelin ran a lifetime best of 26:07.7, placing 233rd on the day. Kaelin kept a 14-place spread during the race today.
Myles Smithson and
Samuel Bennett brought in the final two runners for Campbellsville at the national championship. Myles ran 26:31.0, placing 263rd, Bennett placed 284th, running 26:51.1.
Campbellsville placed 26th overall, one point behind tying for 25th place. The team ran the second fastest team average in program history of 25:21.5 with a 1-5 spread of 1:47.70 to finish out the season.
- Bennett ran under 27 minutes through every race for the first time in his career this season. Before this season, he had never broken the 27-minute barrier.
- Kaelin ran the biggest personal best of the day with a 26.0 second personal best.
- Every race Campbellsville ran in 2024 is now in the top ten for team averages.
