At Last…National Champions!

Dec 6 - Andrew Cross

In the history of athletics at The Master’s University, there has never been a team to win a team NAIA Championship.

Several teams have come close, even finishing runner-up, but until 2024, no Mustang squad has brought home the NAIA’s red banner back to Newhall.

The TMU women’s cross-country team defeated the 35-team field with 92 total points to win TMU’s first ever NAIA national championship. Senior Hannah Fredericks finished second to lead the Mustangs, who added three more All-Americans behind her.

On race day, a blanket of dark grey clouds covered the sky, a stark contrast from the SCV’s sunny mornings at Central Park. Over 320 athletes lined the ridge and faced the course that would decide NAIA distance running supremacy.

As the Mustangs toed the starting line, they gazed out across the 800m grass corridor and readied themselves before the starter’s gun fired. The start of a cross-country national meet created enough pressure to unnerve even the most experienced of runners.

This Mustang’s squad had all the pieces needed to win; they finished second last season and returned with all their runners. They had five returning All-Americans and were ranked No. 4 in the most recent poll.

Head Coach Daniel Rush was coaching his first ever national meet after taking over for Zach Schroeder, the most successful coach in the history of TMU athletics. But the pressure and eyes of the NAIA XC world wasn’t what the ladies were focused on.

“Hannah reminded us on the warmup that this is what the Lord has placed in front of us, and we get to focus on it and let the Lord play out the outcome,” said sophomore Suzie Johnson. “We had been struggling throughout the season with various health and injury problems, but we knew that the Lord is the one who gives success.”

The gun fired and the Mustangs charged down the opening stretch and straight into first place at the first 1000m. All five TMU scorers were in the top 25 at the first checkpoint.

“Before the race, I told them that they belonged in the front. I also charged them to love their teammates well and keep their minds fixed on Christ,” Rush said.

Winning wire-to-wire is the hardest way to claim a title in cross country. In 2022, the TMU men dominated the first half of the race only to fade to third place, well behind the leaders. But this TMU women’s squad had no fear.

“Our mindset was really to rely on the strength the Lord has given us, not what we could muster up on our own,” Johnson said.

Keeping pace with TMU was Taylor University, the 2022 champions. The Trojans boasted a talented and deep team which dominated the field two seasons ago.

The meet had developed into a true two horse race, as TMU pulled into the lead. Taylor and The Master’s were well ahead of third place and the race would come down to individual battles between Trojans and Mustangs.

Hannah Fredericks was in the hunt for the individual title, as she was battling with Taylor’s Janie Halterman at the front of the pack. As the race neared its half-way point, junior Emma Nelson was surrounded by two Taylor runners as TMU’s number 2.

But by 3000m, TMU’s aggressive start combined with the course’s sharp turns and rolling hills were starting to take its toll. The Master’s dropped to second by 14 points and Milligan University was closing hard from third place. The Mustangs were fading.

Amidst all the confusion and chaos of the race, two Mustangs—Suzie Johnson and Rebekah Niednagel—found each other and decided to work together. With two Taylor runners four seconds ahead, their only option was to go…and go together.

“I was hurting … but Bekah came right up behind me and started pushing my back and saying, ‘We gotta go, we’ve got to stick together,’” Johnson said. “The difference for me was Bekah. If I did not have her, I would not have been able to finish where I did.”

“Going into the second loop I thought to myself, ‘Shoot, I’m number five,’” Niednagel said. “I knew my time was really going to matter and I knew Suzie was hurting. And as I came up on her I knew I had to push her more. I had to act as if I was okay because if I fall off, she’s going to be hurting more. So, I knew I had to give it my all for this team. I knew I had to go, and I had to push her.”

The two Mustangs rolled together as TMU narrowed the gap, which had once been nearly 20 points, down to single digits with only a kilometer to go.

Fredericks finished in second place, which gave the Mustangs a much-needed low stick. Ellen Palmgren’s blazing final 100m earned her an eight-place finish behind two Trojans. Nelson followed quickly behind with a ninth-place finish. It all came down to the Mustangs fourth and fifth runners.

But TMU was still losing and with 400m to go, a pack of Trojans and Mustangs entered the final stretch with the title on the line.

“With about 400 to go Daniel yelled at us that we needed nine points, and Suzie and I looked at each other and were like ‘We have to go crazy’,” Niednagel said.

Johnson kicked hard, passing that pack, and Niednagel entered the finish chute, seemingly equal with the Taylor runners.

Coach Rush and the men’s team stopped to watch the flickering scoreboard eagerly as it loaded the scores in real time. Suddenly, the screen updated TMU shot to the top of the leaderboard, with 92 points.

But it wasn’t over; Taylor was still being counted.

“Wait, wait, wait…”

And there it was: an eruption of joy. A green arrow never felt so sweet.

Taylor had come in with 93 points, just a single point behind The Master’s. It was the closest margin of victory in NAIA history.

Coach Rush went sprinting across the green Missouri grass towards his team in complete disbelief of what just happened.

Some of the ladies didn’t even know they had won.

“At the finish line when they announced that we had won with one point. I just started praying, it seemed so unreal and so likely for it to be miscounted. I didn’t believe it for a long time,” Johnson said.

Despite the cheers, Niednagel didn’t even believe at all.

“When we finished, I kept hearing people saying that we had won but I felt horrible because I didn’t catch the Taylor girl. For the next almost ten minutes, I thought I had cost us the win by one point because I didn’t close hard enough,” she said.  “I started searching the crowd for my dad because I knew he would have been counting the scores in his head and when I finally found him, I saw him crying and I knew that we actually did it, that we actually had won.”

The emotion was evident. All the hard work, early nights to bed and early mornings of 6 a.m. practice had paid off. 

But the Mustangs didn’t credit their win to their own ability or strength.

“I was just in awe of the Lord’s sovereignty and how he wanted it to be this group of girls this year to win in order to proclaim Him from the podium,” Niednagel said.

The Mustangs were in shock, becoming the first team ever from TMU to win an NAIA championships.

“I feel like the Lord just blessed us more than we could have ever imagined,” Fredericks said after the race. “We weren't expecting the win, but we wanted to try. So much happiness and joy right now, but it's really all the Lord.”

Coach Rush was named the NAIA Coach of the Year, despite being 23 years old. He is the youngest winner in the history of the award.

“100% of the glory goes to Jesus Christ,” Rush said. “He’s who we do everything for on this team.”