NEVADA, Mo. — On Friday morning (Nov. 3), the Missouri Baptist University men's cross country team battled to take third place out of seven teams in the AMC Men's Cross Country Championship.

Leading up to the championship game, the Spartans took a first place title, bested some difficult PRs, and received recognitions from the conference this season.

12-time AMC Runner of the Week, Donovan Denslow (25:14:11), earned a first place spot for the fourth time this year, and he beat the 2nd place finisher by 64 seconds in the 8k race.

The next MBU runner to finish the race was sophomore sensation David Fletcher, who received fourth place with a time of 26:27:92. 

Denslow and Fletcher worked hard to push themselves into the top 10 finishers, for which they will receive AMC All-Conference awards. 

Dependable freshman Grant Patten also did his part in taking the third place spot by running a time of 27:16:30 and landing at 13th place overall. 

Other notable times came from hardworking junior Charlie McCallister (27:31:55) who placed 15th, and senior stud Wyatt Elliot (27:52:14).

Determined sophomore Josiah Heras (29:21:56) and rookie Zach Klug (30:31:83) finished the race in the 22nd and 28th spots.

Also at the conference championships, Zachary Klug was chosen as Champion of Character and five Spartans received Academic All-Conference awards.

The MBU men's cross country team had an impressive 2023 season overall.