Adams State placed its five scoring runners in the top 24, and all seven Grizzlies in action earned all-America status for a convincing win over arch-rival Western State which finished as the runner-up with 102 points.
Rounding out the top five teams were Grand Valley State (Mich.) in third with 135 points, Colorado Mines, the third Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) squad, in fourth overall with 151 points, and Chico State (Calif.) in fifth with 179. Augustana (S.D.) gave the Central Region four teams in the top six, amassing 299 team points.
Senior Kristen McGlynn (Bailey, Colo.) led a group of four all-Americans in the women's race, but it was not enough for ASC to win an eighth-straight team title, as the Grizzlies would take third as a team.
Michael Crouch of Queens (N.C.) took the individual Division II men's crown ahead of a field of 182 runners and 24 teams, clocking a time of 30 minutes, 43.2 seconds on the snow-covered, 10-kilometer course. Columbus State's (Ga.) Meschak Koyiaki was second overall in 30:46.9 and Jeff Veiga of UMass Lowell was third in 30:52.8.
Then it was time for the parade of Grizzlies, as all seven Adams State runners crossed the line in a span of 36 seconds, led by its trio of seniors Birdsong, McNiff and Luke Cragg (Leeds, England), who took fourth, sixth and 11th, respectively.
Birdsong, who had been the Grizzlies' seventh runner across at the Central Regional meet just two weeks ago, was across first in 31:00.6, while Chico State's Isaac Chavez and McNiff were both credited with times of 31:00.8. Chavez was credited with fifth place and left McNiff in sixth.
McNiff now joins an elite list among Adams State harriers, becoming just the eighth Grizzly to ever earn all-American status in cross country four times with his best finish at the national meet.
Sixth-year senior Cragg became a 3-time all-American in cross country a with a finishing time of 31:11.0, sandwiched between the runner-up Mountaineers' top two finishers. Less than a second later, sophomore Craig Huffer (Newry, Victoria, Australia) finished 14th overall with a time of 31:11.9 at his first NCAA Division II National Championship meet.
The Grizzlies' final scorer, sophomore Keegan Calmes (Wind Lake, Wisc.) scored his first cross country all-American honors with a 24th-place finish while earning 22 team points in a time of 31:27.2, and finishing ahead of Western State's No. 4 runner and the 3rd-place Lakers' No. 3.
Rounding out the ASC squad were sophomore Edwin Cruz (Del Norte, Colo.), also a first-time all-American and junior Nathan Sellers (La Crescenta, Calif.), who also earned his second cross country all-America honor Satuday. Cruz was 33rd overall and 31st among team scorers in 31:35.4, and Sellers finished 35th overall and 33rd among team scorers in 31:36.2.
Cruz and Sellers both finished ahead of the Mountaineers' fifth runner and no other team had their fourth runner across before the Grizzlies No. 7.
It was the second consecutive year that all seven ASC runners have earned all-America honors, and the third time under head coach Damon Martin they have done so.
The Grizzlies also accomplished the feat en route to taking the team title in 2003.
Including track and field honors, McNiff is now a 10-time all-American for the Grizzlies, while Cragg has earned the distinction seven times in his ASC career. Calmes has done so on three occasions.
The Grizzlies have now topped every Divison II team they have faced since the start of the 2008 season, a span during which they have defeated 206 such opponents.
The top three individual finishers in the race were unable to lead their teams to top 10 finishes, as Queens took 12th as team, UMass-Lowell 13th and Columbus State 18th. The fourth RMAC squad in action in the men's race, Metro State, recorded a team score of 443 points, good for 17th.
Each of the top three teams had five runners earn all-America status, as the Mountaineers' fifth runner finished 38th and the Lakers No. 5 was 39th. The Orediggers had four runners on the all-America list, but no other school had more than two.
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