(Lockport, IL.) – Five Waubonsee Community College runners qualified for the upcoming 2024 NJCAA Division II National Cross-Country Meet at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia. Led by Region 4 Runner of the Year David Valkanov, Waubonsee's Dayton Beatty, Luis Baez, Meghan Johnson and Anna Green each earned All-Region honors at the Region 4 Meet hosted by Joliet Junior College at Lockport East High School. All five Chiefs' runners will compete at the National Meet on Saturday, November 9 with the women's 5K race beginning at 8:30 a.m. (CDT) and the men's 8K race at 9:30 a.m. (CDT). 

Valkanov, a freshman from Kaneland High School, pulled away from the pack two-thirds of the way through the men's 8K race to coast to the victory. Valkanov posted the fifth best 8K time turned in by a Chiefs' runner in the last 25 years, crossing the finish line in a time of 25:48 to win by 51 seconds over second place finisher Benjamin Plachno from Sauk Valley Community College. A sophomore from Sandwich High School, Beatty finished sixth overall to earn All-Region Second Team honors for the second straight year. Baez, also a freshman from Kaneland, came in 11^th overall to earn All-Region Third Team status. Waubonsee's Finn Gannon placed 29^th and Ricardo Duran finished 32^nd as the Chiefs took third in the team standings with 69 points. Sauk Valley grabbed the men's team title with 35 points to hold off Moraine Valley Community College which tallied a score of 46 points.

In the women's race Johnson nearly captured the top spot as well but finished second overall to earn All-Region First Team recognition for the second consecutive year. The sophomore from Oswego East High School posted a time of 20:04 crossing the finish line just 6 seconds after Sandburg's Linda Koech. Green, also a sophomore from Oswego East, finished seventh overall to earn All-Region Second Team honors. The Chiefs' Alexandra Lemke placed 16^th to narrowly miss out on achieving All-Region status, while Leliarosa Bonilla came in 18th, Crystal Torres was 21st and Katharine Ball took 23rd as Coach Eric Baron's Chiefs finished third in the team standings with 49 points. Moraine Valley Community College won the Region 4 women's title by a single point edging Carl Sandburg College 37 to 38.