Wabash College senior Brayden Curnutt raced to the finish line in first place to win the individual championship and Men's Runner of the Year honors at Sunday's 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships. The Little Giants finished fifth out of nine teams competing at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.
 
Curnutt is the first Wabash runner to win the NCAC men's cross country title since Sam Henthorn crossed the finish line in first place at the 2019 race. Curnutt also earned First Team All-NCAC honors after three seasons as a Second Team All-conference honoree. He crossed the finish line in 25:23.52, five seconds ahead of Drew Robertson from Wooster in second place.
 
Junior Haiden Diemer-McKinney raced to Third Team All-NCAC honors for the second consecutive season. He finished 15^th at this year's race, finishing in 26:32.27. Senior Jacob Sitzman picked up Third Team all-conference honors with his 18^th-place finish at 26:40. 23. Sitman's all-conference award is the second of his career after earning Second Team honors in 2023.
 
Will Neubauer placed 28^th out of 95 runners competing at the meet. The junior finished in 27:20.91. Freshman Alex Orihuela finished 41^st at his first collegiate conference meet, posting a time of 27:54.73. Johnathan Loney added a 43^rd-place finish with a time of 27:56.62.
 
Wabash scored 102 points to finish fifth in the final team standings. Oberlin College won the 2024 men's cross country title with a score of 41 points. Wittenberg finished second with 51 points. DePauw took third place (83 points), and Wooster in fourth place (91 points). Kenyon finished in sixth place (129 points), with Ohio Wesleyan (193 points), Denison (194 points), and Hiram (295) wrapping up the team scoring.
 
The Little Giants will compete at the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Great Lakes Region Championships at the Blue River Cross Country Course in Shelbyville, Indiana, on Saturday, November 16.