Boisseau crowned individual national champ, Tigers place eighth as a team
On a snow-filled early November Saturday, Cowley College men's cross country runner Esteban Boisseau etched his name into the National Junior College Athletic Association cross country record books by winning the 2025 NJCAA D2 men's cross country individual national title at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
With snow blanketing the course overnight from Friday into Saturday morning, runners were forced to endure conditions they had likely not encountered all year, with both cold temperatures and driving snow making for a picturesque view of the course.
Having to endure the elements and wait to race in the final of the six races taking place on Saturday, Boisseau did not let a fast pace to the start of the race affect his strategy going in, as the sophomore led from start to finish.
"Esteban's race was incredible, it almost got to the point where it was like a training run for him," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said.
Joining Boisseau in the top 10 from Cowley was Alexis Realland, as the sophomore finished in sixth-place with a time of 26:41.50.
Realland entered the race ranked 55th and ended up a First Team All-American along with Boisseau.
"Alexis put himself out there and hung on," Rieth said. "Alexis and Esteban were gamers and got it done for us."
As the lone KJCCC school in the NJCAA Division 2 Championship race, the Tigers also got a pair of top 100 finishes from Wilson Navarrate and Samuel Lovell in the scoring to finish eighth as a team with 298 points for their second-straight eighth-place team finish at the National Championship meet.
"I think we were capable of placing a little bit higher as a team, but the weather played a big factor," Rieth said.
Other Tiger runners were Eli Roberts (138th) and Conner Walker (212th). There were 300 athletes in the men's race.