NAMPA, Idaho – The first cross country race Isaac Mitchell won as a high school runner was in Monmouth, Oregon.

Mitchell, who was a senior at Sandy High School in Oregon when he won that race, hopes to have a repeat performance Saturday in the NCAA Division II West Region Cross Country Championships.

Saturday's race will be on the same Ash Creek Preserve course in Monmouth.

"It is a fast course," said Mitchell, a senior at Northwest Nazarene University. "It's relatively flat and out on a large field surrounded by farmland, barns, that sort of thing."

Mitchell will be joined by a host of fellow NNU runners, including Chase Cunningham, Nick Hamilton, Godfrey Kemboi, Rylan Manzer, Peyton Brothers and Ryan Abdalla on the men's side and Sierra Manzer, Bethany Danner, Emily Hammons, Anna Hamilton, Ashley Harris, MaKenna Conley and Heidi Nisly on the women's side. The women's 6,000-meter race begins at 11 a.m. MDT and the men's 10,000-meter race is at 12:15 p.m. MDT.

In cross country, the top five finishing runners score for team purposes. The top three teams advance to nationals and the top two individuals not on qualifying teams automatically advance. There will be eight at large teams who are chosen to move on, and any runner in the top five who is not on a qualifying team will also qualify. The final eight individual spots will be chosen by a committee.

"I'm really not going to put too much pressure on myself," Mitchell said. "I would love to get a (personal best), but all I can control on the day is the effort I put forth."

Mitchell has never qualified for a national meet. He came to NNU because of the Christian atmosphere, but he was being recruited by plenty of NCAA Division I schools. The biology pre-med major was a few spots away from qualifying in indoor track in the 5k, and also came close at the regional cross country championships a year ago.

"He's our leader and was from the get go as a freshman," NNU cross country coach Jake Perry said. "He is probably one of the most talented kids we've had in a long time. He doesn't have any school records, but there is always injuries or something that have come up at an unfortunate time."

Mitchell is battling an abdominal injury currently, but Perry is hopeful he'll be healthy when the starting gun goes off Saturday morning.

"He is very motivated," Perry said. "He has just been one of those kids that you really enjoy to coach."

Mitchell has running in his blood.

His dad, Rayburn Mitchell, who graduated from NNU, was his high school cross country coach. The two have bonded over the sport, often spending time at the dinner table discussing training, the latest Runner's World article Isaac had read or changes to technique.

"It has definitely been apart of my life for a long time," Isaac Mitchell said. "I had some small successes in middle school, setting some local records and winning some conference meets, and I realized that if I pursued the sport I could go places with it."

Potentially even a national meet.