Francine Nzilampa earned All-American honors on Saturday by finishing third at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships. The Lions finished 24th at the national event while the Lady Lions had a 25th-place showing.

The men's team recorded 519 points at the event and finished ahead of eight other programs. The squad had a strong top two runners but fell off a little for its No. 3 through No. 5 athletes. The women's team, led by Nzilampa's strong showing, had 609 points.

Nzilampa finished her race in a time of 17:56, one of only three runners to break the 18 minute mark. She was 26 seconds short of the champion and five seconds behind the runner-up. It is the second All-American award for Nzilampa in cross country after she finished eighth in last year's race.

Other returners from last year included Yasmina Elkasmi, who finished 133rd in the competition with a mark of 20:06, Annabelle Delarue, who finished 195th with a time of 20:34, and Jan Bennett, who was 279th with a time of 21:43. Delarue and Bennett both improved on their places from last year.

Among the newcomers at the national event, Nicole Rottler was 281st with a time of 21:48, Tanyaradzwa Chibanda was 288th with a mark of 22:00, and Rachel Hemphill was 297th with a mark of 22:19.

The men's team was led by Mustapha Habbani and Samson Kibet. Habbani was the first Lion to cross the finish line with a mark of 26:03, finishing in 44th place. Kibet ran the race in 26:11 and came in 56th.

Brian Soule improved his finish from last year by 84 spots as he finished 165th with a time of 27:02. Rounding out the top five were Benoit Ponton, who was 194th with a time of 27:24, and Joshua Schmidt, who was 243rd with a mark of 27:54.

Rounding out the team were Blake Austin, who finished 266th with a time of 28:24, and Will Everett, who was 291st with a mark of 29:06.