St. Paul, MN -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) released this year's list of cross country award winners. The top 16 runners at the UMAC Championship were named to the All-Conference Team, with the top eight finishers recognized as First-team and the next eight recognized as Second-team. The remaining awards are nominated and voted on by the conference head coaches. The remaining awards are nominated and voted on by the conference head coaches. Junior's Hope Naegelen and David Bjorge were given the UMAC Sportsmanship Award for the 2025 season. 

UMAC Press Releases: WOMEN | MEN

Hope Naegelen (Jr. | Dresser, WI) was awarded the UMAC Sportsmanship Award for the women's cross country team. The junior ran a season-best in the 6k race at the UMAC Championships this past weekend with a time of 32:15.2 and a career-best 5k at the NCCAA Regionals with a time of 25:57.0.

David Bjorge (Jr. | Polson, MT) earned the UMAC Sportsmanship Award for the men's cross country squad. Bjorge ran a season-best in the 8k race at the UMAC Championships this past weekend with a time of 30:37.8, leading all Rams and finishing 34th overall. 

Congratulations to these two runners for being honored with this year's UMAC postseason awards! 

As always, all fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X) pages for updates on men's and women's cross country and all things NCU Athletics.