With snow on the course and brutally cold mid 20 temperatures, there is no better way to set the stage for a championship cross country competition.

The USI’s men’s cross country team competed in the NCAA Division II National Championships in Spokane Washington. USI placed seventh out of the 24 teams and had some strong finishes from a handful of runners.

The best showing out of USI’s runners was junior Michael Jordan, who placed 23rd out of 187 competitors and received All-American honors for the first time of his career.

“I went hard at the beginning to get to the top thirty runners, once there, I then started to pace myself,” Jordan said.

Jordan was satisfied with his personal results this year considering last year he placed 113th and the year before that did not even get to compete in the championships.

“I feel like finishing seventh is really good because there were three runners on the team, including himself that experienced some injuries during the final meet,” Jordan said.

Dustin Emerick and Brendon Devine, both of whom are All-American runners fell behind early, Emerick with knee problems, and Devine who rolled an ankle early in the race before finishing 67th.

Jordan had to deal with back spasms throughout the entire duration of the race and still placed within the top 10. With one more season left to compete, Jordan wants to do as much as he can in the offseason to get better.

“I need to maintain the little things,” Jordan said. “Exercising the core and riding the bike as well as eating healthy and doing more stretching.”

He also will be involved in Rehab therapy for the back spasms he was dealing with for the last half of the season also Jordan will hope to build on off of this year’s success, as he and the rest of the Screaming Eagles return to action in September at the beginning of the next school year.