MARSHALL, TEXAS – So many smiles, celebrations, and superlatives.

McMurry University head men's and women's cross country Rexi Parcells, in the wake of the program's first American Southwest Conference championship team title sweep, two coaching staff of the year accolades, a women's Freshman of the Year honor, and a combined nine all-conference awards, took a look at assistant coach Corey Koch and admitted: "Wow, coach, we couldn't have drawn this up any better if we'd put it on paper."

"There was just determination from the beginning in the men's and women's races," she continued. "The men set a fair pace from the start despite some difficult conditions. (Junior) Ethan (Turner of Fort Worth, Texas) and (sophomore) Gabe (Sanchez of Fort Worth, Texas) took it out from the beginning and didn't look back. They nailed what we wanted to do to a tee."

"The women had the same thing going on with (freshman) Chloe (McLellan of Waco, Texas) and (freshman) Savanna (Danner of Kennedale, Texas) setting a great main pack pace," Parcells added. "They both went out fast, and people kept falling off around them. We knew (juniors) Jazmin and Janeth (Chacon of El Paso, Texas) would be running near the front."

McMurry's first men's team championship since 2000 saw Sanchez place second and Turner wind up seventh to capture their second all-league honors. Junior Abram Maldanado (Weslaco, Texas), freshman Roman Perez (Big Springs, Texas), and senior John Zungia, Jr. (Port Aransas, Texas) each gained second-team awards, with Zuniga, Jr., garnering his second.

The women won their second successive and third all-time title, equaling the men's all-time ASC trophy collection. The Chacon twins each captured their third all-league certificate, while McLellan was tabbed Freshman of the Year, and Danner was a second-team all-conference awardee.

"It's kind of an unreal feeling," Parcells admitted. "It's something we've been talking about for a long time. It just took much hard work on both teams to get to this point. Not only were the two championships on the same day special, but it was the dominance with which we did it (winning by 15 points on the men's side and 45 in the women's team standings).

Corey and I talked a lot last year after the women's victory about what we needed to do to get both squads to this point," she added. "We were happy going into the race knowing both teams had a shot, but we knew the rest of what we accomplished this season didn't matter at this point. They had to show up today when it mattered. We are both so happy for all of the scholar-athletes and the university."

McMurry looks to resume its postseason magic on Saturday, November 11, when they aim at individual and personal awards at the 2022 NCAA Division III regional championships.

NOTES: The laundry list of successes didn't end with the above awards. McMurry's men and women ran a combined eight personal records with 11 more 20 seconds or less from the same effort.