| Year: | 2024 |
| Sport(s): | Men's Cross Country |
The 2013 men’s cross country team was the second men’s team to win an NWAC championship under head coach Matt Koenigs. The squad opened up the season with high expectations, coming off of a 3rd place finish in 2012, but were humbled in the first meet finishing 3rd overall in the NWAC preview, and 21 points behind first place powerhouse Lane Community College.
The Trojans steadily improved over the next several weeks and started to turn heads at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invite where EvCC finished 7th among 20 teams and beat out all NWAC competition which included Lane and Clackamas, the two teams to finish in front of Everett in the preview meet.
The team took second at the PLU Invite, just a few points behind NCAA DII Western Oregon and swept the competition at the North Region Championship, scoring a perfect 15 team points, and placed individuals one through eight, led by Keefe Hanson’s season best 8k of 26:37.3.
Despite the successes of the season, much of the attention heading into the NWAC Championship race was placed on the top runners from Lane, Spokane, and Clackamas. Still the team held together, and got gutsy performances from all seven runners. Mason Nicol ran one of his best races of the season and finished first for the Trojans, 4th overall beating out one of Lane’s top runners. Both Everett and Lane placed three runners inside the top 10 finishers, the only teams to do so. For Everett it was Keefe Hanson at 7th and Kris Mugrage at 9th overall.
With only two runners left to score it was critical that Mohammud Abdi edged Lane’s 4th place runner by ten seconds and Mark Garcia rounded out the Trojan scoring by beating Lanes 5th place runner by seven seconds. Teammates Mitch Beard and Jeffrey Ott had roles to play by displacing runners from Clackamas and Spokane to keep those two teams at bay. When the final points were tallied, Everett defeated Lane 52-50. Only five times in NWAC history has first place been decided by two or fewer points.
Members of the 2013 team include: Mohamud Abdi, Rogelio Bahena, Mitch Beard, Gary Davis, Stephen Dietz, Jack Espinoza, Mark Garcia, Keefe Hanson, Cody Hoskins, Bryan Islas-Martinez, Devin McCrary, Kris Mugrage, Mason Nicol, Jeffrey Ott, Alfredo Rodriguez, Matthew Schwittay, and Thomas Zabelka.
