Barnesville’s Jenkins Repeats as NAIA All-American
TALLAHASSEE, FL – In the annals of the University of Rio Grande’s men’s cross country program, there’s little doubt that Tyler Jenkins will go down as one of the best to ever wear the school colors.
With that said, it should come as no surprise that the final race in the career of the Barnesville, Ohio, senior produced the results that it did.
Jenkins ran to a seventh-place finish and earned his third consecutive All-American honor in the sport, leading the RedStorm’s efforts in Saturday’s NAIA National Championships at Apalachee Regional Park.
Jenkins traversed the 8k course in a time of 24:37, just under 22 seconds behind national champion Jack Anderson from The Master’s (Calif.).
“What can you say? Tyler did what Tyler does,” Rio Grande head coach Matt Paxton said. “What a great career he’s had. Going from 201st place when he ran in the national championship as a freshman to placing in the Top 10 as a senior is quite the accomplishment.”
Jenkins finished 23rd nationally as a sophomore and was 31st a year ago.
As a team, Rio Grande – which was ranked 17th nationally in the final regular season Top 25 coaches’ poll – finished in 19th place with 468 points.
Indiana Wesleyan University won the team crown with 117 points, while The Master’s took runner-up honors with 128 points and the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) was third 160 points.
Indiana University East, whom the RedStorm beat in the River States Conference Championship, finished 12th among the 37 teams vying for the title with 360 points.
“We had a pretty decent day,” Paxton said. “Finishing in the Top 20 as a team is a big step for us. It’s about where we were ranked and we had a couple of our guys have pretty rough days, but we’re improving and learning and we’re excited for the future for sure.”
(Rio Grande College press release, republished with permission)
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