COMPLETE NAIA MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

VANCOUVER, Wash. – British Columbia got in the way of Southern Oregon's plans to defend its title Saturday at the NAIA Men's Cross Country Championships, but that didn't stop three Raiders from attaining All-America accolades.

Noah Oberriter, Connor Cushman and Kevin Poteracke earned the national honor in the 8,000-meter, 328-person race at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The top-ranked Thunderbirds, however, put all five of their scorers in the top-19 to win in a rout with 41 points to second-place Columbia (Mo.)'s 168.

Oklahoma City was third in the team standings with 179 points and SOU was fourth with 193, marking the Raiders' ninth top-four finish in the last 10 years.

"It was kind of an up-and-down race for us, but UBC was the class of the field and no one was going to beat them today," SOU head coach Grier Gatlin said. "They were well-prepared, well-coached and just really good. You have to tip your cap."

Oberriter, a junior from Truckee, Calif., placed 16th overall in 25 minutes 6 seconds, topping a 37th-place finish in his first appearance at the meet last year. Cushman, a senior from West Linn making his fourth appearance, was an All-American for the second year in a row in 25:13 for 20th place. And Poteracke, a senior from Petaluma, Calif., claimed the 30th and final All-America spot in 25:24 after placing 47th as SOU's fifth scorer in the 2016 championship run.

It was the first time since 2014 that SOU produced three All-Americans.

"Those top three were really good," Gatlin said. "It was a nice finish to a strong season for all of them."

Nothing their teammates could have done was going to stop UBC. When SOU won the title last year, it did so with 122 points.

Ray Schireman came in next for the Raiders in 95th overall (26:13) and their final scorer was Caleb Diaz in 97th (26:13). Ryan Alexander, who'd missed the Cascade Conference Championships two weeks ago with an injury, came back to place 123rd (26:25) and Aidan Paulk was 138th (26:24).

Mark Shaw, an Oklahoma City sophomore, won the individual title by 10 seconds in 24:09.

The CCC was well-represented in the team standings behind SOU, as Eastern Oregon claimed seventh and College of Idaho and Oregon Tech tied for 10th. SOU edged out Lewis-Clark State, the Frontier Conference championship, by seven points to stay in the top-four.

TEAM SCORES (top 20) – British Columbia 41, Columbia (Mo.) 168, Oklahoma City 179, Southern Oregon 193, Lewis-Clark State 200, St. Mary (Kan.) 273, Eastern Oregon 275, Missouri Valley 296, St. Francis (Ill.) 326, College of Idaho 351, Oregon Tech 351, Indiana tech 353, Olivet Nazarene 372, Indiana Wesleyan 375, Aquinas 431, Bacone 438, Taylor 442, Northwest Christian 469, The Master's 492, Cornerstone 493

SOU MEN'S 8K RESULTS (328 total entries)
16. Noah Oberriter, 25:06
20. Connor Cushman, 25:13
30. Kevin Poteracke, 25:24
95. Ray Schireman, 26:13
97. Caleb Diaz, 26:14
123. Ryan Alexander, 26:25
138. Aidan Paulk, 26:34