Vancouver, Wash.---Three individuals represented Wayland at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships on Saturday.  In addition, two other members of the Pioneer cross country teams were named as 2009 Daktronics/NAIA Scholar Athletes. 

On the men's side, senior Timmy McCune ran a 26:38 to finish in 112th place. McCune was competing against 322 other runners from across the nation.

In their first national competition, the two Pioneer freshmen women finished in the middle of the pack. Milca Villegas ran the 5K course in 20:16 to finish 153rd, while Catherine Leubner was 198th with a time of 20:38. There were a total of 330 women in the race.

Wet and muddy conditions marred the first-ever NAIA competition held at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site.

In a banquet on Friday evening, seniors Kirby Dunn and Diana Guitierrez were both honored as NAIA Scholar Athletes for the second year in a row. Dunn, a Business Administration major from Bowie, Tex., has a 4.0 grade point average, while Gutierrez is a Spanish major from Dumas with a 3.75 GPA.