Hardy finishes 8th at National Championships
University of Antelope Valley senior cross country runner Santiago Hardy finished his historic season for the Pioneers with an eighth-place finish out of 324 runners on the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course at the NAIA 66th annual Men’s Cross Country National Championship on Friday in Vancouver, Washington.
The weather was cold and soggy, but Hardy finished with a time of 25 minutes, 15.5 seconds. He beat his time on the course by 2.3 seconds after finishing 20th (25:17.8) out of 335 runners in 2019.
“I felt good coming into the race,” Hardy said in a UAV press release. “The course was something unexpected. Little patchy, uneven areas along with hills and mud. It’s how cross country is supposed to be. Other than that, I raced the best of my ability.”
Hardy was named an NAIA All-American in 2019 and will earn the honor again with his top-10 finish.
“Santiago executed his best possible race,” UAV coach Daniel Tustin said. “The past six months of training paid off and everything came together. He left no doubts!”
Hardy won the California Pacific Conference title (23:41) on Nov. 1 and was named the 2021 Cal Pac Runner of the Year.
It was his fifth straight victory after winning the 40th annual University of Riverside XC Invitational 8k (24:41), The Master’s Invitational 4.97M (24:42.9), the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country Invite 8k (24.49.9) and the Titan Invitational 8k (23:41).
On Friday, Oklahoma City freshman Zouhair Talbi won the national title with a time of 24.43.1 and was followed by his sophomore teammate Shimales Abebe (24:56.6). College of Idaho freshman Logan Hunt was fourth (24:58.9), Cornerstone sophomore Luke Pohl finished fourth, Friends junior Emad Bashir-Mohammed took fifth (25:13.1), Oregon Tech senior Mark French was sixth and St. Mary (Kansas) senior Johnathan Bowen took seventh (25:15.2) with Hardy close behind.