The Buccaneers cross country team traveled to Richmond, VA to compete at the NJCAA DII National Cross Country Meet on November 13th.

The men’s team raced first, and finished with a placing of 26th in the nation. This is the first time Dawson has had a full scoring team compete at nationals in the program's history. Connor Chase, Raymond Kirwa, Garet Hoke, Eniah Boseman, and James Springer made up the team of the scoring five. Each of the team members ran strong and were competitive in a loaded field of runners from across the nation.

Following the men’s race, the women competed and the Buccaneers had their individual female make a statement from the start of the race that she was ready to compete with the best of the best. Emberlyn Hoffman-Gaschk had a strong start after the gun went off and stayed with the lead pack that broke away from the rest of the field. Emberlyn remained in the top 10 for the entire 5K course as the lead pack jockeyed for position.  During the final mile, she was in 8th and fought her way forward through the finish line to give her an overall 7th place finish. This finish makes Emberlyn the 2nd DCC All-American, and also gets her in the record books by being Dawson’s first ever Top 10 finisher at Nationals.

Coach Alex Chase Wolff said, “I am so proud of the six athletes that went out and competed. This team is composed of all freshmen, and so we have a lot of potential and expectations for next season, including nationals in 2022. Both the men’s team and Emberlyn set out goals back in August for the 2021 season. We went out and accomplished exactly what we set out to do, and we will be back for more next year!”

The Buccaneers will begin their indoor track and field season with their first indoor meet occurring in January when the students return to campus following winter break.