JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (November 1, 2024) – Add another "first" to the list for UNA — and put it in
bold.
On Friday, the University of North Alabama had a historic performance from true freshman
Brian Bett at the 2024 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships in Jacksonville, Fla. Bett won the race, becoming the first individual from UNA to win a conference championship for the men's cross country program all-time.
Even more significant, Bett is the first Lion to win a conference championship of any kind at the Division I level — across all sports.
"What an incredible moment and significant first for our entire athletic department," said UNA Director of Athletics Dr. Josh Looney. "Congratulations to Brian on this historic accomplishment for UNA Athletics and our cross country program. Coach (Connor) Callahan, who arrived at UNA in late July, masterfully engaged, motivated and trained our athletes to accomplish things that have never been done before at UNA.
"I'm especially excited that in an August all-staff meeting, we spoke aloud our department-wide goal of bringing home UNA's first ASUN championship this academic year - and this was accomplished in the very first ASUN Championship held after that goal was verbalized. We're so proud of everyone associated with our cross country program and their efforts in pushing UNA Athletics to new heights!"
Bett won the ASUN championship with a time of 23:29.6, beating last year's champion, Taha Er Raouy of EKU, by nearly six seconds.
While Bett was excited to make history with his championship win, he was even more excited to help his team match their highest Division I finish in school history. The Lions placed fifth of 12 teams, which was last achieved in 2019.
"This is the best thing that has ever happened (in my life)," said Bett after the win. "We have a good team. The teamwork is great. We have a good coach — the best coach. The training is perfect. We get the best results and we always prepare well. I like being the champion and being the first at UNA. It's perfect."
Bett has achieved multiple school records this season, including a 23:26.4 time for a new personal-best at the Gans Creek Classic earlier this season. He was three seconds off that time today at the ASUN Championship.
Bett was named the ASUN Runner of the Year, Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the All-Freshman team with his performance. Not far behind him was fellow rookie
Vincent Chepkwony with a time of 24:08.3 to finish 12th overall. Chepkwony was also named to the ASUN All-Freshman team.
Rounding out the top five scorers for UNA was senior
Adam Nipper in 39th with a time of 25:19.4, sophomore
Brent Lyons with a time of 25:43.9 and senior
Noah Bonsall at 26:07.5. As a team, UNA had 145 points to crack the top five, besting Central Arkansas at 176.
EKU won the men's race with 29 points, followed by North Florida, Lipscomb, Bellarmine and UNA. The rest of the order includes Central Arkansas, Queens, FGCU, Stetson, West Georgia, Jacksonville and Austin Peay.
On the women's side, the Lions also celebrated an improved season with a seventh place finish. This ties as the second-highest finish in an ASUN championship since moving to Division I in 2018. The other seventh-place finishes happened in the 2019 and 2022 seasons.
"We had one goal all season long, and that was to be better at the ASUN championship. We showed up and did just that today," said first year head coach Connor Callahan, who now owns claim to being the first coach at UNA to coach an ASUN champion. "These seniors on the women's side have set the foundation for those coming in next. Our men being led by two freshmen shows that the future is bright here at UNA. I'm very happy with how the team performed today and proud of the work they put in."
Leading the women's side was senior
Laura Mobley with a time of 18:06.5. Mobley passed six runners between the final checkpoint and the finish line, cracking the top-30 of the field with a. 30th place finish.
This marked a new personal record for Mobley.
"Coach and I talked before the race about how I held myself would impact how the team held themselves," said Mobley after the race. "So coming into today, I was nervous, but I knew I had to be confident in myself and confident in my team. I knew as a team that we would work together and that the main thing we should focus on is going out there and having fun and finding each other during the race. Trying to keep it together before the race, I wanted to keep it fun and just work together as a team."
Not far behind Mobley was teammate
Gracie Mathews with a time of 18:31.8 to place 40th. Senior
Janeth Jepkirui also made the top half of the 96-runner field with a time of 18:45.5. The other top five scorers for the Lions were
Aaliyah Charo and sophomore
Camille Etheridge side-by-side in 52nd and 53rd place. Both runners pushed each other to their best career races.
Lipscomb won the women's race with 16 points and seven of the top eight finishers. Behind Lipscomb were North Florida, Central Arkansas, EKU, FGCU, Bellarmine, UNA, Queens, Jacksonville, Austin Peay, Stetson and West Georgia. Lipscomb's Kiara Smeltz was the individual champion.
UNA had seven runners set new personal records on Friday. This includes Chepkwony, Lyons and sophomore
Rogan Hanson on the men's side and Mobley, Charo, Etheridge and sophomore
Taylor Williams on the women's side.
A number of Lions also improved their times from last season's race to this season.
Next on the schedule is the 2024 NCAA South Regional Championships in two weeks on Friday, Nov. 15. This meet will be hosted at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
