PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The ACU Wildcats finally got over the hump and won the school's first NCAA Division II national championship in men's cross country, taking the title by 17 points Saturday over Adams State.
The Wildcats scored 65 points to beat Adams State, which scored 82 points. Adams State entered the meet as the nation's No. 1-ranked team with the Wildcats sitting at No. 2. But behind the incomparable Nicodemus Naimadu, the Wildcats finally broke through and won the title after finishing second five times and eighth once in the last six years.
Naimadu won his third straight individual national championship, becoming the first NCAA Division II athlete to do so. Naimadu is only the fifth NCAA athlete ever to win three national championships, and next year he'll try to become the first NCAA athlete ever to win four individual national championships in cross country.