NEW ORLEANS — According to a release from the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday, the Montreat College Cavaliers earned a spot in the Jack Hazen Program of the Year standings for the sixth consecutive academic year. By scoring at the men's cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field championships, the Cavs concluded the campaign ranked No. 8 out of 22 qualifying NAIA programs.
 
Overall, Montreat tallied 45.5 points, 4.5 points better than ninth-rated Milligan University and four points behind No. 7 Cornerstone University.
 
A pair of All-American efforts at the NAIA Men's Cross Country Championship handed the Cavaliers an early head start. Ryan Stade (19^th) and Brock Lauer (26^th) led the majority of the pack en route to securing a 21^st-place team finish among a 37-squad field.
 
Two individual national titles and an additional All-American showing during the indoor track & field season only furthered the Cavs' standing. Nathan Cremin (1000m) and Stade (3000m) captured the third and fourth national titles in program history. Meanwhile, the duo joined Jordan Pippin, Hugo Petat-Hemono and Cameron Rice in notching All-American honors in the distance medley relay. Combined, those performances led to Montreat finishing eighth out of 68 scoring institutions, marking the program's best placement at the indoor national meet.
 
With just outdoor track & field remaining, the Cavaliers clinched a spot in the Jack Hazen Program of the Year standings by tying for 16^th out of 73 scoring squads at the national meet. Both Cremin (800m) and Stade (10k) turned in national runner-up efforts to buoy the Cavs' point total.
 
The USTFCCCA Jack Hazen Program of the Year award honors the NAIA's most successful men's cross country/track & field program. To be eligible for the award, an institution must qualify for and score at each of the following three NAIA National Championships: cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field.
 
Scoring is based on a program's finish at each of the national championships, with first place earning one point, second place garnering two points, etc. Ties among programs at one of the national meets result in split points for the positions taken. At the end of the year, the institution with the lowest combined score for all three championships is named the Jack Hazen Program of the Year.
 
For a look at the official USTFCCCA Program of the Year release, click here. To view the full 2025-26 Jack Hazen Program of the Year standings, click here.