SAN MARCOS, Calif.—The No. 12 Cal State San Marcos men's cross country team won its sixth consecutive A.I.I. Conference Championship Saturday afternoon at the Mangrum Track and Field, closing hard in the final mile to pull away from No. 6 British Columbia and the rest of the six team field.

The Cougars ended up placing four in the top five en route to a 10-point victory over the Thunderbirds, finishing with 23 points by taking positions 1-2-4-5-11. British Columbia tallied 33 points with scorers in the 3-6-7-8-9 spots, and Ashford (Iowa) placed third with 100 points.

CSUSM sophomore Steven Ing won the individual conference championship in a new personal best time of 24:53.1, running the 8-kilometer course in a blistering 5:00 minute per mile pace. Ing, who won his first collegiate race two weeks ago at the NAIA West Coast Jamboree, made it two in a row by pulling away from teammate Western Nelson over the course's final mile. With Ing's victory, Cal State San Marcos has now had the individual A.I.I. Champion now in each of the past five seasons.

Ing, Nelson, and Jack Williams set the tone up front from the beginning, breaking away from the pack in the first of three loops. The Cougars' Eric Brockhoff was in fourth after the first loop, but the Thunderbirds looked strong with a pack of runners in the 5-11 positions. After the first loop, British Columbia held a slight lead of 29-30 over CSUSM.

The Cougars evened up the score after the second of two loops at 29-29, but the Thunderbirds held the edge with the sixth runner.

In order for the Cougars to win, the team needed someone to step up in the final mile. Easton Tackett—in his first race back since returning from injury— proved to be just that guy, passing the entire pack of British Columbia runners with a ferocious finish starting from the bottom of the final hill before entering the stadium. This gave CSUSM four runners in the top five, and essentially clinched the race.

Nelson, a three-time NAIA All-American, ended up placing second in 25:09.2, nearly 24 seconds in front of British Columbia's Jack Williams. Brockhoff fought hard over the final mile to withstand the surge from the pack behind him to place fourth in 25:43.8, and Tackett ended up fifth at 25:50.5.

British Columbia took the sixth through tenth positions to place six athletes in the top-10 and on the All-Conference team, but the Cougars' Caesar Castillo closed out the scoring with his 11th place finish in 26:10.5.

CSUSM's average team time of 25:33.42 was more than 20 seconds faster per runner than British Columbia's, and nearly four minutes faster than third place Ashford's mark. Steven Ing was the recipient of the conference Most Outstanding Athlete award, while head coach Steve Scott picked up the A.I.I. Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year honor. Nelson, Brockhoff, and Tackett joined Ing on the All-Conference team, giving CSUSM four first-team all-league recipients.

Scott was very pleased with the result, noting a strong team performance all-around. "Steven was excellent, and Western did a great job for us setting a fast pace early in the heat so B.C. couldn't settle in. Eric toughed it out by holding that fourth position with the pack chasing him down, and Easton was tremendous in picking off their pack near the end. I told Easton he had to get two runners (from the group), and he ended up getting all of them."

The Cougars will now head to the NAIA National Championships in Lewiston, Kan. looking to come up with another big performance on the national stage. CSUSM finished second in the 2011 national championship, and third in last year's meet. British Columbia will join the Cougars as one of the teams competing in the 32-team field Saturday, November 23.