LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Webster University men's cross country placed third here Saturday at the 2019 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships hosted by Spalding University and held at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.

While the Gorloks finished third overall at this year's SLIAC Championships, junior Junior Nathan Freyling (Fenton, Mo./Fox) led the way for the Gorloks as he finished as the meet's runner-up with a personal best 8K time of 26:08.16 to earn First-Team All-SLIAC honors for the second consecutive year. Freyling's time was the eighth fastest 8K time in school history and the third fastest time by a Gorlok at the SLIAC Championships. 

Freyling finished nearly 12-plus seconds behind individual champion Dylan Goodyear of Greenville as he ran an 8K time of 25:56.02 to earn his second consecutive individual title and become the first repeat champion since Principia's Zach Matthiesen won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. 

Goodyear's performance helped lead Greenville to its fourth consecutive SLIAC title as the Panthers scored 36 points, while Spalding, who was the host school of this year's meet, was second with 44 points and Webster scored 52 points to finish third. Behind the Top 3 teams was Principia in fourth with 111 points, Westminster (Mo.) College was fifth with 159 points, Fontbonne was sixth with 165 points and Blackburn was seventh with 183 points. 

Freshman Cameron Sakuma (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) earned the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year honor and was also a Second-Team All-SLIAC selection with his eighth place finish as he ran a personal best time 8K time of 26:31.28, while sophomore Javier Cervantes (Garden City, Kan./Garden City) also earned repeat Second-Team All-SLIAC honors as he placed 11th completing the 8,000-meter race in a time of 27:29.07.

With his Newcomer of the Year honor, Sakuma becomes the first Gorlok in school history to take home that accolade. 

Freshman Kaelin Triggs (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) ran a personal best 8K time of 27:46.22 to just miss earning All-SLIAC honors as he was 15th overall and senior Abram Donovan (Saint Paul, Minn./Highland Park) was the Gorloks fifth finisher placing 16th in an 8K time of 27:50.82. 

Sophomore Eli Guzman (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) and freshman Sam Baker (Memphis, Tenn./Saint Benedict at Auburndale) were the last two scoring runners for the Gorloks as Guzman placed 20th while running 28:40.03 and Baker placed 22nd running a personal best 8K time of 28:47.96.

The final three finishers for the Gorloks were freshman Gabriel Ayers (Bonne Terre, Mo./Saint Paul Lutheran), senior Paul Mueller (Red Bud, Ill./Red Bud) and freshman Christian Gray (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves). Ayers placed 27th overall running a personal best time of 29:16.0, Mueller finished 34th while running an 8K time 30:20.44 and Gray finished 41st and ran a personal best 8K time of 31:15.55.

While Sakuma was named the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year and Goodyear earned SLIAC Runner of the Year honors, Greenville's Brian Patton was named the SLIAC Coach of the Year and Webster earned the Team Sportsmanship Award. In addition, Freyling was named to the All-Sportsmanship Team.

Webster will now turn its attention to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, which is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 16 in Winneconne, Wis., and will be held at Lake Breeze Golf Club.