For the first time in school history, Montreat College earned a spot on the national championship scoreboard by collecting two points for Talisa Bishop's seventh place marathon finish. Bishop led all Montreat performers by completing her first marathon in 3:19:10. Out of 126 colleges and universities represented at the NAIA national championships, Montreat College tied for 55^th. Bishop's seventh place finish was just one spot from becoming an All-American.

Wayland Baptist won the women's team championship with a total of 102 points, followed by Oklahoma Baptist and Lindenwood University with 58 and 52 points, respectively.

On the men's side, Azusa Pacific once again won the team title with 80 points, just nine points ahead of sprinting-powerhouse Dickinson State.

With hot and humid conditions, Montreat's marathon team of Ben Hall, Wilbourn Kosgei, Lindsay Mizok, Arilicia Adkins and Talisa Bishop found it very difficult to compete at their highest potential. With 74 marathoners entered in the Saturday morning event, 19 found the conditions too difficult to complete the race. Heat exhaustion and dehydration were the main causes of the 19 athletes that dropped out of the rolling 26.2 mile race.

Nashville, TN -  At this morning's Nashville Country Music Half Marathon, Ben Hall (So./ Columbus, NC) became the sixth Cavalier to earn a trip to this year's NAIA National Track & Field Championships.  Hall completed the rolling 13.1 mile course in a new personal record of 1:15:48 (5:47 per mile pace), earning him his second consecutive trip to St. Louis.  Hall finished an astounding 9th place out of 22,749 competitors!

"Ben was a stud today.  The conditions were tough early on and the course was a bit more demanding than expected," said Coach Larios.  "He demonsrated great focus and determination this morning as he worked up and down the hills through downtown Nashville.  We're all so proud of him."

Last spring, Hall finished 19th nationally in the marathon, crossing the line in 2:38:53 and as the first freshman runner.

Team mates Justin Edwards (Sr./ Hunlock Creek, Pa) finished 39th overall in a time of 1:25:49 while Kayla Suiter (Fr./ Marion, NC) earned the 752nd overall spot in 1:44.39.  

Full results of the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon can be found by clicking HERE.

The six Cavaliers that have earned the right to represent Montreat College at the 2009 NAIA National Championships are Talisa Bishop (Sr.), Arilicia Adkins (Jr.), Lindsay Mizok (Fr.), Elisabeth Elliott (Fr.), Wilbourn Kosgei (Jr.) and Ben Hall.  This small contingent will now focus on their final training preparations for the track and field championships.  This year's championship will once again be held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 20-23.

The Montreat College track team was represented well at this weekend's exclusive Duke University Track & Field Invitational.  The small contingent of Cavaliers ran against some of the nation's best NCAA talent.

Highlighting the Cavaliers' accomplishments was Talisa Bishop.  Bishop led the 5000m race until being overtaken in the final 1000m by Lenior-Rhyne's Katie Griewisch, a Johns Hopkins and University of West Virginia runner.  Bishop finished in 18:46.70 to finish 4th out of 32 competitors.