Columbia Secures Back-to-Back AMC Men’s Cross Country Championship Title

Written by Bruna Niederkorn, AMC Assistant Commissioner

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Columbia College captured its second consecutive American Midwest Conference (AMC) Men's Cross Country Championship title today, securing back-to-back crowns.

The Cougars finished with 15 points, well ahead of Health Sciences & Pharmacy, which place second with 75 points. The 60-point margin marks the largest victory in conference history.

Columbia placed all 10 runners in the top-10, led by Kalieb Redda, who became the fourth runner to earn in conference history to earn back-to-back individual titles. Redda clocked a time of 26:22.64, earning his second consecutive AMC Runner of the Year honor. Redda was followed by teammates Gauge MacGregor (26:51.57), Marcos Lara (27:06.85), Malo Helion (27:13.09) and Ryan Brown (27:15.79) to round the top-5 finishers.

With the victory, Columbia received the AMC's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship, scheduled for November 21 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida.

In addition, Jose Soto of Hannibal-LaGrange will represent the AMC after a 12th-place finish with a time of 28:46.91 as an individual.
Columbia's Liam Lyon was named AMC Freshman of the Year after finishing ninth with a time of 28:08.87, while Lara was named AMC Newcomer of the Year.

The Columbia College coaching staff led by head coach Brennan Cape and assistants Mason McCaleb and Ryan Bontz was recognized as the Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
The AMC also recognized the Champions of Character Team which includes one individual from each team selected by his coach and teammates judged to best represent the Five Core Values of the NAIA Champions of Character Initiative – Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Sportsmanship and Servant Leadership.  Individuals selected to the Champions of Character Team are below.
 
The Conference also released the 2025 women's cross country Academic All-Conference Team which includes individuals that have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and have completed at least one semester at their institution. The list of Academic All-Conference honorees is below.

Team Scores:

 
Top-10 Individuals (All-Conference):

 
2025 AMC Individual Awards:

 
2025 AMC Champions of Character:

 
2025 AMC Academic All-Conference: