Vancouver, Wash. – Lawrence Technological University freshman Conner Uppleger finished his fantastic freshman season at the 2021 NAIA Cross Country Championships on Friday morning, ending in 321st place out of 332 runners.
Uppleger is the fourth individual to qualify for the NAIA Nationals in the men's team's 10-year history.
84 individuals qualified for the event, and Uppleger was one of just three individual qualifiers from the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC).
Uppleger got off to a great start as he sat in 53rd (3:01.5) at the 1k mark but dropped back to 136th (3:33.5) a quarter through the race.
The Marine City native, shaved a couple of seconds off his time to move up to 128th (3:31.8) after the 3k but fell back 67 spots to 195th place at the halfway mark.
Running on a tough, hilly course at Fort Vancouver National Historic in some altitude took its toll on the freshman in the second half of the race, but he finished strong, posting his fourth-best 1k time to end the race.
Uppleger capped off a freshman campaign that saw him named All-WHAC Second Team as well as WHAC Men's Cross-Country Runner of the Week on October 18th.
