The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

LEWISTON - The Lewis-Clark State College (LCSC) men's cross coun­try team is currently ranked fourth in the NAIA, accord­ing to the final edition of the 2013 NAIA Coaches' Top 25 polls. 2013 Waitsburg graduate Seth Deal, attend­ing LCSC on a partial ath­letic scholarship, is regularly placing fourth or fifth on the Warrior team of 17 men.

Both the men's and wom­en's Warrior cross country teams have earned a spot in the National Championships to be held in Lawrence, Kan. on Saturday, November 23. Each team will send eight runners - seven to run in the race and one as back-up. Deal will be running on the men's team, which is no small feat for his freshman year on an extremely com­petitive team.

"We're really impressed with how well he's done, running against such stiff competition," said Deal's father Bob. The family is planning to attend the Kan­sas race to cheer Deal and the Warriors to victory.

In addition to his no­table athletic performance, Deal has impressed coaches off the course as well. He was recently awarded the men's NAIA Champion­ship of Character Award for the Warriors Men's team. Coaches select a male and female from each team to receive the award that honors students who show strong academics and character. According to the NAIA web­site, Champions of Character show: integrity, respect, re­sponsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.

"He's had a really great year," said Deal's mother Ve­ronica. "We're really proud of him."