RADFORD, Va. – Last Friday in Louisville, Ky., the Radford Cross Country program wrapped up an historic season marked by notable team and individual accomplishments. On the season the Highlanders recorded 16 top-10 marks in school history, four school-record times, a Big South Individual Championship, and a bevy of historic team results.

It was the kind of season not seen at Radford in some time and deserves a deep rewind. Here are the key storylines of the 2021 Radford Cross Country season.

The Dominance of Hannah Moran
It took Hannah Moran only 14 minutes and 11 seconds to place her name in the school record book. After transferring from the University of Virginia, Moran opened her final season of cross country eligibility for Radford by taking an individual win at the Virginia Tech Invitational, recording a school-record time of 14:11 over 4K.

Moran won again the next week with a 28-second margin over second place at the JMU Invitational.

It would take until her third meet at a Highlander for Moran to finish in a position other than first. She did it in spectacular fashion, taking down yet another school record at the Live in Lou Classic. Moran covered the five-kilometer course in 16:48.7, good for eighth place out of 399 runners and a 40-seond takedown of the previous school record.

For Moran, though, the biggest moment of the season came on Oct. 29 when she became the first Highlander since 1993 – and first woman since 1990 – to win a Big South Individual Championship. With a time of 17:09.5, Moran came through the line nine seconds ahead of second place to take home the trophy. With the win, Moran became just the fifth woman in Radford history to take the individual conference crown.

The conference meet would not be the final time that Moran made her mark in Radford history, however. Last Friday at the NCAA Southeast Regional, Moran became just the second Highlander ever to earn NCAA All-Region honors, finishing in 18^th place with yet another school-record time of 20:42.8. While the cards did not fall the way they needed to for Moran to continue on to the NCAA Championship meet, the accomplishment is remarkable all the same and a fitting end to an illustrious cross country career for the Salem, Va. native.

Radford Women's Cross Country Renaissance
Radford Men's and Women's Cross Country had a string of success culminating in 1990 when teams combined for eight total Big South Team Championships. However, that level of success has been hard to come by since. It seems that the tide is beginning to run under the tutelage of Sam Bradley as the Highlander women managed high expectations all season, competed strong, and made some history along the way.

After being ranked in the NCAA Southeast Region in the preseason by the USTFCCCA – the first such ranking in school history – the Radford women never relinquished the ranking, remaining in the top 15 in ever poll released this season.

Being ranked is one thing, but showing it is earned is another. And the Highlanders showed it.

In the NCAA Southeast Regional meet, the women actually finished a spot higher than their ranking, taking home a program-best 13^th-place finish. In addition to being the best season finish in school history, this placed the Highlanders as the highest Big South program, two weeks after the conference meet.

At the Big South Championship meet, the Radford Women's Cross Country team took home the runner-up trophy for the second year in a row. That second-place finish matched last year's group as the best finish since winning the title in 1990.

This was also the second year in a row that the Highlander women placed three runners in the top-10 at the meet – the first time that has been accomplished since the 1986 and 1987 seasons in which the Highlanders took home the team titles.

For the runners on the team, it was a banner year as well. As it stands, 10 individual results on the season sit in the top 10 in school history. On the season Rachel Werking ran times that rank tied for fourth at 4K and alone at fourth at 6K – additionally, Werking entered the season with the school record at 5K and now sits at second all time. MacKenzie Gardner made her mark with the ninth best time at 4K and eighth best at 5K. Rachel Millirons moved herself to fifth all-time in the 5K and the 6K while already ranking third in the 4K entering the season. Last but not least, Savannah Hoff entered the school record book for the first time with a seventh all-time finish over 6K.

The Growth of Nate Jennings and Joshua Daggett
While the Highlander women may have garnered more headlines this season, the men's group was quietly working away – and making their own marks on the school record book.

Two men in particular are inextricably linked to the success of the 2021 Radford team: sophomores Nate Jennings and Joshua Daggett. That Jennings and Daggett are both sophomores speaks to the youth of the men's team but in no way hampers the success the pair was able to find on the season.

Jennings got started early. At the Virginia Tech Invitational he ran the fastest time in school history, covering 6K in 19:18.0 to finish seventh in the meet.

It was at Live at Lou in Louisville, Ky. where Daggett joined Jennings to make his mark as well. At that meet, Jennings and Daggett ran the two fastest times in school history over 8K with times of 24:43.6 and 24:59.0, respectively. Not only did this result put the pair at one and two in Radford history but made Jennings and Daggett the first two Highlander runners ever to break 25 minutes at the eight-kilometer distance.

At the Big South Championships, Jennings went on to become an All-Conference honoree with an 11^th-place finish in 25:32.7. Daggett had a successful day, greatly improving from his freshman campaign and narrowly missing All Conference with a 16^th-place finish.

After the Big South Championship meet, Jennings and Daggett entered what would be their first ever attempt at 10K at the NCAA Southeast Regional. The duo took on the distance like seasoned veterans, finishing with times of 31:47.5 and 32:08.7, respectively. These times moved Jennings to fifth and Daggett to sixth in Radford history at the 10K distance to cap their sophomore campaigns.

Radford Men Never Quit
The Radford Men's Cross Country team is on its way. It is a young team fighting some growing pains, but in the 2021 season it showed what it's made of by staying in the fight and gutting out some strong performances.

The team opened the season with back-to-back second place team finishes at the Virginia Tech and JMU Invitationals. After the JMU Invite, it looked like the men were ready to turn a corner. However, the injury bug struck. Down a few key pieces, the Highlander men were forced to step up and compete with all they had.

In the most notable instance at the Big South Championship meet, the team fought their way to a sixth place finish despite a day-of lineup change presenting what seemed like an insurmountable challenge.

On the year, six new times were put in the school record book – Sam Sikora's 19:53.1 6K at the Virginia Tech Invitational is the eighth best in school history in addition to the above results. It is worth noting that Sikora is only a sophomore as well – reinforcing the youthful talent that this team has.

After the Big South Championship, the Highlander men were forced to compete at the NCAA Southeast Regional with only four men but again put forth strong finishes, despite it being the first time that any of the four men had run the 10K distance. Jennings, Daggett, Luke Richards, and Hayat Khan gave it what they had and did Radford proud to end the season.

Quotable
"I was really impressed with the programs this season.  We had a vision two years ago of what we could accomplish in cross country.  It is really exciting to see the vision become a reality." –Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Shelli Sayers.

"This truly was a historic season for both the men and women. From winning the individual Big South title with Hannah Moran and a 2nd consecutive trophy for the women, to four new Schools records and Josh Daggett and Nate Jennings achieving the two fastest times ever run by a Radford male, we accomplished so much as a collective unit.

However, this was only made possible by the incredible support of our tight inner circle, and in particular, Coach Shelli Sayer's direction and endless unwavering support for this program." –Head Cross Country Coach Sam Bradley

"The credit goes to the student-athletes who showed up every day with a purpose and a shared vision of what they considered successful and made it happen." –Assistant Coach Mike Bianchina.

Looking Forward
It's not hard to imagine that a healthy men's team could finish two or three spots higher in the team rankings at the Big South Championship meet. With another year of training and experience under their belts, there is real potential for the Highlander men to take a big step forward.

As for the women, losing Moran surely will be consequential but after she won her individual crown, Moran herself said that this team is coming. There is a young core of talent coming back and after a narrow defeat at the conference meet this year, they are sure to come back hungry looking for redemption.

For the Radford Men and Women's Cross Country teams, the future is surely brighter than it has been for some time – and until then, there is track to run and more records to set.