Sacramento, Calif. – The University of Findlay men's cross country team took 28th at the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championship, which was held on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.

The Oilers, making their first ever appearance as a team at the NCAA DII Championship meet, were faced with temperatures in the low 50s, light rain, and a saturated course that took on two inches of rain the day before the meet. The sloppy conditions made for challenging conditions for each of the 34 teams and 24 individuals that made up the 262-man field.

"National meets always have an element of chaos but the conditions today definitely added another layer", said head cross country coach Eric Wymer. "The most important thing today was to get out well and stay on your feet. When it's muddy, it can be difficult to accelerate so it's important to get established early and our guys did a good job of that."

About his team accomplishing their goal of earning a trip to the national meet, Wymer said, "The guys set out a goal and committed to it. It's as simple as that. It's easy to say you want to do something, but it's another thing to believe it and do what it takes to get it done. I'm beyond proud of this group for putting themselves out there and committing to such a lofty goal."

Grad senior Noah Fisher, who will leave Findlay as the most decorated cross country athlete in program history, got off to a slow start, by his standards, and was in 85th through the first thousand meters. By the halfway point, he had climbed up into 34th and was just ten seconds out of tenth. He would finish the race with a time of 30:21.2 which was good for 34th in the individual standings, giving him all-American status for a second-consecutive year. That mark goes down as the second-best 10k time of Fisher's career, only bested by his sub-30 performance at last season's national championship.

Also running in his final cross country race at UF was graduate senior Jordan Foster. The Bascom, Ohio native started fast and, midway through the race, found himself hanging around in 61st. He would end up finishing the event in 112th overall after posting a time of 31:27.8.

Running in a 10k cross country race for just the third time, junior Simon Derstine would put together a solid race, finishing in 173rd with a time of 32:11.7. Sophomore Landon Armstrong (228th | 33:06.7), freshman Asher Long (232nd | 33:16.9), senior Zack Britton (246th | 33:51.3), and freshman Eli Lengl (251st | 34:03.7) rounded out the other runner for Findlay at the meet.

More from Coach Wymer
"This accomplishment is a culmination of everyone who has bought into my vision since I got to Findlay. I've had a lot of prospective student atletes visit Findlay but not believe in what we were building. The guys on this team, especially those seniors, took a blind risk and it has paid off. There are several guys in our program that could have gone Division I or chosen a program that has already made national meets, but they chose us. That's what makes this group special. We'll definitely miss our seniors and I am grateful to them for everything they have done for our program."