Results
Lansing, Mich. – Two Stockton University cross country runners capped their outstanding seasons by competing in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, which were held at Forest Acres Golf Course on the campus of Michigan State University.
Running on a course covered in packed snow, senior
Cooper Knorr (Manalapan/Manalapan) finished 246th out of 294 competitors with a time of 27:05.4 for eight kilometers. Knorr was 260th at the two-mile mark and moved up 20 spots to 240th after 6.3 kilometers before crossing the finish line in 246th place.
The conditions were unkind to sophomore
Jaelyn Barkley (Hope/Belvidere), who unfortunately suffered a pulled hamstring somewhere around the one-kilometer mark of the women's 6K race and did not finish.
Knorr was just the third Stockton men's cross country runner ever and first since 2010 to qualify for the NCAA Championship. He finished 10th at the NCAA Metro Regional last Saturday to tie the best finish ever by a Stockton male at NCAA Regionals. This season, he collected USTFCCCA All-Region and NJAC First Team honors as well as one NJAC Runner of the Week award.
Knorr finished his career with two NJAC First Team accolades. He also was selected NJAC Runner of the Year after winning the NJAC individual championship in a diminished field of 39 runners in Spring 2021 after the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID.
Barkley was the breakout star who led a young Stockton women's team to second place at the NJAC Championships and the program's best finish ever at NCAA Regionals with third place. She became the third Osprey female overall and first since 2017 to qualify for the NCAA Championship.
Barkley's seventh-place finish at the NCAA Metro Regional on November 12 was the second-best ever by a Stockton women's runner at an NCAA Regional meet. She earned USTFCCCA All-Region and NJAC First Team kudos plus one NJAC Runner of the Week award this season.
