Posted: Nov 11, 2022

Four for Fopma

November 11, 2022 | by Taylor Pill

STORY

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Jeremy Fopma ripped the page out of the NCCAA record books that he wrote himself, as he won an unprecedented fourth consecutive NCCAA National Individual Title on a day that will go down in Maranatha Athletics history.

Fopma's individual title last year was the first time anyone had won three consecutive national individual titles, let alone four.* The man from Iowa ran a 26:08 8K - his best time of the season - at NCCAA Nationals to hold off Doug Stone from Bob Jones University and secure the individual title en route to leading the Sabercats Men's Team to a third-place finish. It was the fastest time of the season for the Men's Team, who peaked right when it mattered most, as all 10 runners set a season-best time. The team was an agonizing one point shy of second place, finishing with 92 points behind Ozark Christian's 91.

Amber Brungard set a PR and a sixth-place finish to lead the Maranatha Women to fourth place. Brungard's 5K time of 20:30 was good enough for third place all-time in program history.

On the men's side, Bob Jones University took home their seventh straight title with a 2-3-4-5-6 team finish, all five of the Bruin runners finishing immediately behind Fopma. Jonathan Gilliam, Shem Abdnour, Andrew Centifanto, and Curtis Fink all ran PR times as the team strode to the third-place finish, finishing behind Ozark Christian College by just a single point.

Bob Jones topped the table in the women's race as well, finishing 3-5-6-7-8 to capture the crown. Crown College's Abby Pausch led the pack with a 5K time of 19:25. Behind Amber Brungard, Anna Morken and Michal Wagner both ran PR times as the Ssabercat Women finished fourth on the day.

*NCCAA Record books date back to 1988

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