RICHMOND, Ind. -- The 2021 season has been full of history for the Midway men's cross country team, and on Saturday (Nov. 6) in Richmond, Ind. that history continued as they claimed their first River States Conference Championship in program history.
Jay Walls' team won the title following a tight race as the top five teams were separated by just 14 total points. Midway finished with 96 total points which earned them a one-point victory over IU Kokomo (Ind.) and Point Park (Pa.) who finished in a tie for second with 97 points.
By way of winning the conference championship, the Eagles earned the RSC's automatic berth to the 66th Annual NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championship which is set to run on November 19 in Vancouver, Washington.
The Eagles – who were picked to finished seventh based on the RSC Preseason Coaches' Poll – claimed the title in just their fifth year as a program. The victory was the fourth of the season for the Blue and Gold, while it was their sixth overall in program history.
"The guys went out there and laid it all on the line today for one another," said head coach, Jay Walls. "These guys truly wanted an opportunity to train for two more weeks and run one more race together. It was a total team effort today and they all came through in the clutch."
Walls added, "It was all about them believing in themselves and trusting in their training, when both of these occur is when the magic happens like it did today."
Leading the way for the Eagles was the brother duo of Jacob Kocis (Island Pond, Vt.) and Josiah Kocis (Island Pond, Vt.) who each finished inside the top 10. Jacob took home a third-place finish with a time of 27:04.0 and Josiah came in seventh at a time of 27:46.0.
Up next was Jacob Stinnett (Leitchfield, Ky.) and Luke Logan (Elizabethtown, Ky.) who each finished within 17 seconds of one another. Stinnett carded a 17th place finish with a time of 28:24.7, while Logan crossed the finish line at 28:41.8 in 25th place.
Coming up huge and rounding out the scoring for the Eagles was Ethan New. The junior from Whitley City, Ky. finished in 51st place after he posted a time of 30:48.6.
Finishing within one second of one another was the duo of Nate Martin (Pickerington, Ohio) and Wesley Greene (Madisonville, Ky.). Martin crossed the finish line at 31:32.5 and Greene crossed at 31:33.6.
The final two Eagles to race was Trad Egleston (Morehead, Ky.) and Zach Gibson (Whitley City, Ky.). The two recorded finishing times of 34:19.1 and 37:45.4, respectively.
Following the race, an awards ceremony was held to hand out all the individual and team awards. It was there where Midway was handed the championship trophy and banner as a team, while they also earned several individual awards.
Leading the list of individual awards was head coach Jay Walls. The Louisville, Ky. native was voted the RSC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for his efforts this season. Walls – who is in his third season as head coach of the cross country programs – has taken the Midway cross country programs to new heights since his arrival in December 2017.
Earning All-Conference honors was the duo of Jacob Kocis and Josiah Kocis who were each named to the First Team. Jacob earns the second All-Conference honor of his career, while Josiah – a true freshman – earns All-Conference honors for the first time in his young career.
Rounding out the list of honors for the Blue and Gold was Wesley Greene who was named to the RSC Champions of Character Team.
The RSC Champions of Character Team recognizes one individual from each team who best represents the NAIA five-character values including: respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
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