School-Record Performance Leads Beaver to Heart Title

Cedar Rapids--D'Artagnon Beaver (Sr., Rockford, Ill., Human Services) became the third William Penn men's cross country league champion Saturday as he paced the Statesmen at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship.

Behind a first-place effort by Beaver, William Penn placed fourth out of 13 teams with 97 points.  Mount Mercy took home the team crown with 69 points, while Park was a close second with 81 points.

Beaver paced the 124-person field on the 8K course with a school-record time of 24:43.2.  The senior had been flirting with the previous program mark of 24:51 by Jamal Boma from 2016, but finally accomplished the feat Saturday.

Beaver joins Boma (2016) and Travis Sauer (2004) as WPU's only men's cross country conference champions.

With the victory, Beaver automatically qualifies for the NAIA National Championship on Friday, November 22 in Columbia, Mo.

Brandon Williams (Sr., Fountain, Colo., Engineering Technology) will join his teammate as nationals as he placed third in Saturday's Championship with a time of 24:59.

Both Beaver and Williams earned first-team all-Heart laurels.

Andrew Miller (So., Le Claire, Iowa, Exercise Science) also had an impressive outing as well, placing 13th in 25:31.2 to pick up an honorable-mention all-Heart award.

Carson Springer (So., Grimes, Iowa, Business Management) was next for the navy and gold, crossing the line in a time of 26:49.4 to finish 36th, while Ruben Perez-Rodriguez (Sr., San Antonio, Texas, Wellness and Recreation) was 46th in 27:23.3.

Jordan Davis (Sr., Loomis, Calif., Political Science) headed the remaining Statesmen in 64th in a time of 27:59.

"A lot of great things happened for the men's team today and this season," Head Coach Caleb Drake said.  "Highlighting that was D'Artagnon Beaver breaking the school record and winning the individual conference title.  We also had nine of our 11 men run lifetime bests, and we were four seconds away from all the men being under 29 minutes.  This is a special group of men and I am confident in the foundation they have built for this program.  The best is yet to come for WPUXC."