AVE MARIA, Fla. (November 7, 2020) – Southeastern placed five runners among the top seven finishers to claim the Fire’s first league title at the 2020 Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Championship on Saturday at North Park on the campus of Ave Maria.
 
USCB’s Tewodros Eckstein, this year’s TSC Runner of the Year, won the individual title, finishing the eight-kilometer course in a time of 26:32.5. The Sand Shark junior finished 22 seconds ahead of second-place runner John Perez-Dunn (SEU) to earn an automatic bid as an individual in this year’s upcoming NAIA National Championship.
 
In addition to Perez-Dunn’s second-place finish (26:54.6), SEU placed senior Jordan Gonzalez in third (27:11.2), sophomore Stephen Ward in fifth (27:30.3), junior Christopher Pinedo (27:43.6) in seventh, and sophomore David Milburn in eighth (27:50.7).
 
Other top-10 finishers included Ave Maria’s Joseph Perreault (the TSC Freshman of the Year), who ran fourth (27:71.1), St. Thomas’ Jonathan Memnon, who ran in sixth (27:40.6), Warner’s Cesar Sandoval, who ran in ninth (27:52.8), and SEU’s Drew Knobl, who ran in 10^th (27:56.5).
 
Following SEU (25) in the team race were Ave Maria (93), Thomas (98), USCB (104), Keiser (126), Warner (137), St. Thomas (143), and Webber International (188).
 
The Fire earned The Sun Conference’s automatic berth into the 36-team NAIA Championships.
 
The Sun’s All-Conference teams and special awards were announced at the conclusion of the race.
 
The top seven finishers in the Conference Championship are named to the All-Sun first team, with the seventh-through-14th finishers making up the second team. The Freshman of the Year is the top frosh finisher in the conference meet. The Runner of the Year, Coach of the Year, and the sport’s Champion of Character award winner were chosen in a ballot of the head coaches.
 
The 2020 Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country All-Conference Awards:
 
First Team
Tewodros Eckstein (JR), USCB
John Perez-Dunn (SO), Southeastern
Jordan Gonzalez (SR), Southeastern
Joseph Perreault (FR), Ave Maria
Stephen Ward (SO), Southeastern
Jonathan Memnon (SO), St. Thomas
Christopher Pinedo (JR), Southeastern

Second Team
David Milburn (SO), Southeastern
Cesar Sandoval (GS), Warner
Drew Knobl (FR), Southeastern
Justin Tomison (FR), Thomas
Andrew Guillory (SO), Thomas
Joseph Montes (SO), St. Thomas
Adam Paga (FR), Ave Maria

Runner of the Year
Tewodros Eckstein (JR), USCB
 
Freshman of the Year
Joseph Perreault (FR), Ave Maria
 
Champion of Character
Joel Zaila (SR), Warner
 
Coach of the Year
Paul Kurtz, Southeastern
 
          
ABOUT THE SUN CONFERENCE
Now entering its 31st year, The Sun Conference, a 501c3 organization, continues to be one of the most successful intercollegiate athletic conferences in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Under the guidance of Commissioner Dustin Wilke, the league sponsors championships in 18 NAIA sports: Baseball, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s and Women’s Golf, Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field, Men’s and Women’s Soccer, Softball, Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field and Women’s Volleyball.  Corporate sponsorship of the Conference has increased ten-fold; but most importantly, every Sun Conference member institution earned the NAIA’s prestigious 5-Star Champions of Character Award in each of the last five years. Learn more @ thesunconference.com