• Freshman Alejandro Bernal leads DMACC with a fourth-place finish
• Freshman Jordan King is in the top 10 at No. 8
• Sophomore Zach Niederklopfer and freshmen Ray Gearhart and Will Thompson are 10^th, 11^th and 12^th respectively

Freshman Alenjandro Bernal of Sibley finished fourth and led four other DMACC runners to top 12 finishes as the DMACC men's cross country team took second place in Division II of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) 2023 Region XI Cross Country Championship October 27 at Creston.

The Bears scored 40 points and finished one point behind Southeastern Community College (SECC) in Division II of the 8K race. DMACC's second-place finish earned the team a trip to the NJCAA Division II national championship Nov. 11 at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala.

Southwestern Community College's Chase Oates took medalist honors with a time of 26 minutes, 49 seconds.

Bernal's time in finishing fourth was 27:23. DMACC freshman Jordan King of Boone was eighth in 28:01 and sophomore Zach Niederklopfer of Des Moines and freshmen Ray Gearhart of Oelwein and Will Thompson of West Des Moines were 10^th, 11^th and 12^th respectively. Niederklopfer's time was 28:18, Gearhart toured the course in 28:21 and Thompson crossed the finish line in 28:23.

Other DMACC results saw freshman Joe Terrones of Marshalltown finish 15^th. Sophomore Quinton Kimrey of Adel was 17^th and freshman Grant Harrison of Des Moines crossed the finish line in 19^th place. DMACC sophomore Rochard Tingue of Leoganne, Haiti, rounded out the Bears' performance by finishing in 32^nd place. Terrones' time was 28:01, Kimrey posted a time of 29:27, Harrison ran the course in 29:42 and Tingue toured the course in 32:54.