EUGENE, Ore. - On November 8, senior women's cross country runner Kaitlin Cook had a historic race at the Cascade Collegiate Conference championships, earning All-CCC honors and qualifying as an individual for the NAIA National Championships. 

Cook earned her best-ever finish at the CCC Championships in five tries, improving greatly from a 44th-place finish in 2023 to claim sixth-place in 2024. She passed two runners over the final 1000-meters to jump into the top-ten. 

Coach Kyle Will said, "Kaitlin ran a great race. We weren't worried about our times today, just about being competitive. Kailtin led that charge and a fantastic team effort that helped us take sixth-place as a team after we were dead last the year before."

As an All-CCC runner (top-14) and among the top four runners that were from a school not qualifying as a team for the national championships, Cook claimed her own individual qualification for the NAIA National Championship on November 22 in Columbia, Missouri. 

At the NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship, held at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course, Cook put a final exclamation point on a fine career, taking 106th in the 327-runner field. 
 
Cook took 16 seconds off of her previous best, running a 22:50.2 to break the 23-minute barrier for the first time. She earned a spot in Bushnell's top-ten all-time 6000-meter times and produced the fastest 6K for a Beacon in 11 years.
 
Sitting in 137th after the first 1000 meters, Cook gradually made her move, passing multiple runners as she briefly made her way into the top-100 before finishing 106th in the 327-runner field.
 
"I am incredibly proud of Kaitlin," said Coach Will. "She ran amazing today and to set a 16-second PR on a difficult national championship course is a great way to finish her collegiate career."

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