EUGENE, Ore.  – There were plenty of highlights during the 2021 men's and women's cross country and 2022 indoor/outdoor track and field seasons.
 
Junior Rebecca Kuskie was the big story early, leading the women's cross country team, and she continued making a mark in the spring. The distance runner became the first Bushnell athlete of the season to earn All-Conference honors during cross country, as she finished in fifth-place at the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship in early November. That placement was also good enough to secure an individual at-large bid for the NAIA National Championship, where she competed for the first time.
 
In the spring, Kuskie was once again the leader of the distance crew during the track & field season, qualifying for conference in both the 1500m and 10000m distances. Her focus narrowed to the longer run, and made the trek to Ashland for the CCC Championships where she took third-place and secured her second All-Conference nod of the year.
 
A titan in the classroom as well, Kuskie holds a 4.0 cumulative GPA. She was named the Bushnell Co-Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year and was also named a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection among other accolades.
 
The spring also featured another high-flying woman who continued to make her own mark in the history books. Senior Carina Haas broke her own Bushnell pole vault record early in the season, but saved her best for last. At the CCC Championship, she cleared 3.25 meters, finishing in fourth place to score points for the women and just miss All-CCC status. She finished her career with the top seven marks in school history.
 
On the men's side it was a distance runner and a sprinter that captivated the hearts of Beacon nation with their efforts. Junior Linus Rueegger, a transfer competing in collegiate running for the first time, turned heads in March at the Shamrock'n Half Marathon as he took third-place in a 3000-runner field, breaking the school record and qualifying for the NAIA Championships in the process.  At the NAIA Championships, Rueegger took 14th place.
 
It wasn't his only NAIA appearance of the year, as he was also a leading member of the men's cross country team, which was one of just two Bushnell teams to qualify for the NAIA championships as a team during the 2021-2022 season.
 
The Beacons earned their way to the national championships by grabbing the Cascade Collegiate Conference's host bid for the race, which took place at Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington.
 
Rueegger was not the only Beacon runner to set records in 2022. When all was said and done, Jaron Carter proved himself once again to not only be the fastest Beacon in history, but a Cascade Collegiate Conference champion as well. During the indoor track season, Carter reset his own record in the 60m dash, breaking seven seconds for the first time with a 6.90 run at the second Portland Indoor meet. He posted a total of four top-ten times throughout the season, and he also posted the third-fastest indoor 200m time with a personal best 22.66 at the Husky Classic.
 
Carter's impressive outdoor season culminated in a new 100m school record at 10.68 seconds as the Beacon Champion of Character Award winner soared past the field and won the CCC Championship, becoming the first Bushnell champion in any sprint distance for either gender.

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