LAKELAND, Fla. – Junior Christian Giller of the Florida Southern College men's cross country team will represent the Moccasins as an individual competitor at Saturday's NCAA Division II National Championship in Sacramento, Calif. This will mark Giller's second career trip to the NCAA Championships where he finished 84^th overall to lead the team to a 25^th-place finish at the event.
 
Giller becomes the first Moccasin to earn an individual qualification since Mason Jones (2017-21) earned a spot at nationals in 2021. He is also one of just five Moccasins all-time to earn an individual invite to the NCAA National Championship joining Jones (2019 & 2021), Bobby Ormsby (2017), Eric Larson (2011) and Scott Mackley (2008) to achieve the feat.
 
The 2024 National Championship is taking place in Sacramento, Calif. at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course. FSC has sent an individual to compete for a National Championship in Sacramento, Calif. before as Jones competed at the 2019 NCAA National Championship in Sacramento. Jones took 88^th at that event while running at the time the second fastest 10K time in program history, 31:27.5. Giller has since broken the 10K mark with his 30:38.31 performance at the NCAA South Region Championship earlier this season.
 
The Mocs top individual finisher at any of the 16 National Championships in which the Moccasins have had a competitor was 55^th and that was achieved by Eric Walker (2003-06) at the 2006 National Championship as he led the Mocs to a 20^th-place finish. 
 
Giller will start the race in box 15 and will be joined by Weldon Chebon of New Mexico Highlands and Franklin Kipchirchir of Virginia Union. Chebon, a freshman from Timbora, Kenya, earned his spot by taking eighth at the NCAA South Central Region Championship while Kipchirchir, a freshman from Kapsabet, Kenya, took third at the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship to become the first runner from VUU to earn a trip to the NCAA Championship.
 
Wingate is the defending National Champions and enters as the No. 1 ranked team in the country. Colorado School of Mines and Grand Valley State round out the top-three in the most recent USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll. William Amponsah, a senior at West Texas A&M, returns as the defending Individual Champion.
 
The men's race is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM (ET) and will be streamed on NCAA.com and will also have Live Results available.