BILLINGS, Mont. – The Saints, led by Alauna Carstens' seventh place finish, made their mark at the NCAA D-II West Region Championship as the men placed 15th overall and the women placed 10th overall.
 
The women placed 10^th overall, with Carstens (21:25.5) and Cassidy Walchak-Sloan (21:40.12) finishing in seventh and 15th which earned them All-Region honors. This marked the first cross country individual All-Region honor since Shannon Porter's third place finish in 2016. Their finishes put them in contention for at-large individual bids to advance to the National Championships, but confirmation from USTFCCCA about the teams and individuals selected will be released this afternoon.
 
The team's 10th place finish was a nine place improvement from last year. "It proves that our women deserved their ranking throughout the regular season, and it's something to build off of for the next cross country season" remarked head coach Matt Lowe.
 
The men's team finished 15^th, which was a four place improvement from last year. Isaac Cortes finished 31st with a time of 31:18.7, narrowly missing All-Region honors by six places but improving on his performance from last year by a massive 92 places. Coach Lowe praised his performance saying, "He's done an incredible job of stepping up in both training and racing" and the team's overall performance saying, "It proves that we're on the right track to developing these men over the long term."
 
Coach Lowe concluded his thoughts on the season overall with, "The men's and women's programs displayed some of the best performances both as a team and individually in challenging weather conditions. I'm proud of everyone's tenacity throughout the race and continued the trend toward progress, no matter the challenges. Collectively everyone improved, and that's all we could ever ask for. Most of them will take a well-deserved break before we hit the grindstone in preparation for the upcoming track season. I think everyone feels invigorated to see the progress made and how it'll translate to their performances measured during the track season. We've come a long way as a program and are even closer to becoming a team that will contend with the best."
 
This marks the end of the season for the men's cross country season and we await news to see if Saint Martin's will be represented in the women's D-II National Championships.