WINFIELD – Kansas Wesleyan Men’s Cross Country posted its best finish since the 2015 and 2016 seasons as the Coyotes finished second at the KCAC Championships on Saturday at the Kansas Veterans Home course.

The Coyotes now await to see if they will qualify as the second KCAC team to the NAIA National Championships later this month in Tallahassee, Florida. The NAIA changed its qualification model for a second automatic qualifier from a conference, that team must be ranked in the Top 30 of the final NAIA poll of the season, to qualify as a team to the National Championship.

That poll comes out Monday.

Regardless, two Coyotes punched NAIA National Championship tickets as individuals in Shane Calvin (JR/Lakin, Kan.) and Austin Hess (JR/Garden City, Kan.).

Calvin finished 7th in the race, covering the 8K course in 25:41.29. Hess posted a 14th place finish with a time of 26:00.02.

Jake Cruz (FR/Pasadena, Texas) was next to cross the line for the Coyotes in 19th, with a time of 26:15.56. Giovanni Rios (SO/Temecula, Calif.) finished 33rd in 26:57.99, Cisco Alvarez (SO/Colorado Springs, Colo.) was 34th in 26:59.04, Nicolas Martinez (FR/Coppell, Texas) was 40th in 27:13.74, Jack Horacek (SO/Topeka, Kan.) was 41st in 27:17.35, Will Griffith was 56th in 28:29.94, Steven Merrill (JR/Arvada, Colo.) was 58th in 28:35.36, Ty Davidson (SO/Lakin, Kan.) was 69th in 29:06.69, Julian Avila (SO/Manhattan, Kan.) was 81st in 29:49.50, and Remington Wiseman (FR/Howard, Kan.) was 102nd in 32:29.59.

The Coyotes were second in the team standings with 77 points, beating third place Tabor by eight points. Saint Mary was the KCAC Champion scoring only 20 points in the meet. The Spires had 10 of the top 12 finishers in the race.

Logan Horning from Friends was the individual champion with a winning time of 24:45.06.