2025 Cross Country Season Review
Ankeny, IA -- Faith Cross Country continued their upward trajectory in 2025 with several new program benchmarks and a few nods at the national level
Faith Cross Country has impressed time and again in recent years, and 2025 was no different. Carlie Blevins broke the 6k program record that she set in 2024, and midway through the season she broke the 5k record that has held for the past 10 years. Becca Hulinsky and Brian Rohde earned All-Region honors at the NCCAA Super-Regional, and Carlie Blevins ran her way to a second place finish and her second straight All-American performance at the National Championship meet.
The Eagles started the year fast and never looked back, seeing four individuals (Jelena Bausch, Lydia Mueller, Becca Hulinsky, and Carlie Blevins) qualify for nationals in the first meet of the year. The ladies reached the team qualification standard in the same meet, and they used the next six weeks to prepare for the national championship race.
Brian Rohde qualified for nationals in his first collegiate 8k, and the men's team reached the qualifying standard week two at the Trent Smith Invitational. 2025 marks the third straight year that both teams have qualified to race at nationals in the same season. Ethan Smith added his name to the list of individual qualifiers at the halfway mark of the year, becoming the sixth and final qualifier from Faith.
Leading up to postseason the Eagles earned three Student-Athlete of the Week honors. Carlie Blevins was given the nod on September 22nd and October 13th, both honors coming after she broke a program record. Brian Rohde received his first Student-Athlete of the Week honor on October 13th, following a huge PR that brought him less than one minute away from the men's program record.
The women's team took another step in the postseason, finishing third at the National Championship meet, marking their best placement in program history for the second year in a row. The Eagles were honored off the course with four scholar athletes and the women's team earned the scholar team nod to complete another exciting season.
NCCAA Awards
Scholar-Athletes: Andrew Hackley, Ben Hackley, Brandon Smith, Becca Hulinsky
All-Region: Brian Rohde, Becca Hulinsky
All-American: Carlie Blevins
Team Awards
Men's Most Valuable Runner: Ethan Smith
Women's Most Valuable Runner: Carlie Blevins
