NEW ORLEANS – Senior
Isaac Sytsma (Highland, Ind./Indiana Tech/Calumet St. Joseph/Highland) was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NAIA Midwest Region Male Cross Country Athlete for the Year for the Saint Xavier University men's cross country team when the awards were announced Wednesday afternoon by the national office. Sytsma, who broke his own program record earlier this season, joins former NAIA All-American Alan Guzman (2015-17), who won in 2017, as the only Cougar runners to win the award. Sytsma capped the regular season by repeating as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Champion, becoming the first SXU runner to win the event in consecutive seasons.
- Sytsma, started the 2024 season with a third-place finish at the Indiana Wesleyan University Twilight Invite with a time of 25:07.7 on September 6 in Marion, Ind.
- In his next race, Sytsma placed seventh at the Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) Midwest Classic Invite with a time of 27:23.3 on a hot afternoon in Bourbonnais, Ill. on September 20.
- He broke his own program record with a first-place time of 24:37.6 at the Seminole Valley Stampede hosted by Mount Mercy University (Iowa) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on October 5.
- Sytsma ran the sixth-fastest time in a loaded field at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic hosted by Doane University (Neb.) in Ashland, Neb. as he posted the second-best time all-time for a Saint Xavier runner at 24:41.9 on October 26.
- He set the course record enroute to winning the CCAC Individual Crown at Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf, Iowa, crossing the finish line with his third-fastest time as a Cougar at 24:45.8 on November 9.
Sytsma, along with teammate, senior
Jonathan Jacobo (Blue Island, Ill./Eisenhower), will compete at the NAIA Men's Cross Country National Championships on Friday, November 22. The 8K race takes place at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo. at 10:30 am.
