NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Mehdi Nait Hamoud recorded a top-10 finish as the Madonna University men placed seventh, while Tyfane Martins led the Crusaders to 14th in the women's race Friday at the National Catholic Invitational. Madonna scored 170 points in the men's 8K and 401 in the women's 5K at Burke Golf Course.
Nait Hamoud finished eighth overall in 23 minutes, 54.6 seconds, averaging 4:48.6 per mile. His seventh-place scoring position gave Madonna a strong start at the front of the lineup. Yasser Soualah followed in 16th overall with a time of 24:22.5, while Adem Bouldjad crossed 29th in 25:06.5. The trio accounted for 46 points and kept the Crusaders in the upper half of a 16-team field.
Rayane Bacha added a 58th-place finish in 25:48.9, and Zakari Mekideche completed Madonna's scoring five in 90th at 26:21.6. The Crusaders' top five combined for a time of 2:05:34 and averaged 25:06. Madonna finished four points behind sixth-place St. Francis (Ill.) and 11 points ahead of eighth-place Bellarmine, underscoring the importance of the team's scoring group across the 8K course.
Women's Cross Country:
Martins paced the Madonna women with a time of 19:38.2, placing 65th overall and 53rd among team scorers. Lauren Hamilton was the Crusaders' second runner across the line, finishing 94th in 20:17.4. Annabelle Czeiszperger followed in 113th with a 20:43.8 finish, giving Madonna three runners under 21 minutes.
Abigail German and Jaidyn Sadler supplied Madonna's closest pack-running sequence of the meet. German finished 146th in 21:39.2, and Sadler crossed four seconds later in 21:43.2 to complete the scoring lineup. Their back-to-back finishes secured 97 and 98 team points, respectively. The women's top five totaled 1:44:01 and produced an average time of 20:48.
Host Notre Dame won both team championships with 15 points after placing its five scorers first through fifth in each race. Chloe Huyler won the women's 5K in 16:45.4, and Daelen Ackley took the men's 8K in 23:19.4. Madonna left Burke Golf Course with two runners among the top 16 of the men's field and a women's scoring pack anchored by three sub-21-minute performances.
Both men's and women's cross country teams will be racing again at the Ray Bullock Invitational hosted by Taylor University on Friday, October 9, 2026 at the TUXC Farm in Upland, Indiana.
