INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time in program history, Northwest Nazarene men's cross country is heading to the DII Men's Cross Country National Championships as a team.

The Nighthawks earned one of the 10 coveted at-large berths to the championships, becoming one of 34 schools that will send a full squad to the title race.

The championships will be held Saturday, November 22 at Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Parkside will serve as the host. The women's race will begin at 11:00 a.m. Eastern, followed by the men's race at 12:15 p.m. Eastern. 

While Grady Mylander had already ensured his individual qualifying spot by virtue of being the highest placing individual not on one of the top three automatic qualifying teams at the West Regional last weekend, the rest of the squad had to wait and see until Monday afternoon. NNU placed fifth at the regional and it came down to region strength and NNU's resumé to earn the Nighthawks one of the 10 remaining at-large team berths. They were the fifth and final West region squad to be selected, behind Chico State, Western Washington, Cal Poly Pomona, and Alaska Anchorage.

As mentioned, this is the first time that Northwest Nazarene will be sending its full men's team to the NCAA Championships in cross country. Only three NNU men's individuals have qualified in the 24 years in Division II: Barak Watson twice in 2009 and 2011, and Tyler Shea in 2019. NNU has also sent its women's team to the NCAA Championships one time, when the Nighthawks took second at the 2019 regional.