Pensacola, Fla.—All five St. Andrews Presbyterian College scoring runners posted personal record times in a 10,000-meter race on Saturday, helping lead the Knights to a 23rd place finish at the 2006 NCAA Division II National Championships host by the University of West Florida during the D-II Fall Festival.

The Knights harriers, making their second consecutive trip to Nationals and coming off their first ever Southeast Regional team title, improved by one spot from last year’s performance against a field that contained 21 teams ranked in the national top-25. SAPC, which was most likely the smallest school in the field for a second straight year, will only lose one senior in Co-captain Tim Bourke (Alden, N.Y.).

“I am extremely pleased with our finish and by the PR’s set by most of the guys” said fifth year head coach Gary Aycock. “The amount of time we took off our times is a great confidence builder for the upcoming track season and for next year.”

The Knights, who spent a total of four days in Florida, experienced a lot during their trip including helping build a home on Thursday for Habitat for Humanity. CBS Sports also spent a lot of time with the team putting together a feature story about the Knights cross country team that will be aired on December 31 in conjunction with highlights from the Fall Festival (more details will be released later).

“The Habitat for Humanity Home Build was one of the many highlights of the trip,” expressed Aycock. “It was nice to take some time off from the upcoming race and the long season and help others that are less fortunate.”

Sophomore Mitch Cooper (Virginia Beach, Va.), who is the reigning CVAC Runner of the Year, led the Knights with a PR of 31:37 on the 10k course located on the Escambia County Equestrian Center. Cooper took 1:27 off his prior best time at that distance to pace St. Andrews with an 89th place finish out of 187-runners.

Bourke ended his four-year career at SAPC by crossing the finish line with a personal best time of 33:02. Bourke, who was a cornerstone in the Knights development into a prominent cross country program, raced in a total of 30 distance races for St. Andrews.

First year runners Pedro Tapia, Jr. (Sanford, N.C.) and Ryan Janes (Gaithersburg, Md.) both capped strong freshmen seasons at St. Andrews with PR’s of 32:18 and 32:25, respectively.

Sophomore Knight Perry Morris (Austin, Texas) stopped the clock in a PR of 35:08; Freshman James Lloyd (Lusby, Md.) followed with a speed of 39:10; and junior Patrick Hogan (Denton, N.C.) concluded SAPC’s running with a PR of 39:12.

“The trip was an enjoyable time that we plan to experience again next year when nationals will be held in Joplin, Missouri,” concluded Southeast Region Coach of the Year Aycock.

Abilene Christian University won the national title behind the high finish of three runners in the top-10 including three-time individual national champion Nicodemus Naimadu (Kenya).