“Never under-estimate the heart of a champion!”

That’s the message that Adams State head cross country coach Damon Martin told his Grizzly men’s and women’s teams after they claimed won their ninth overall dual national championship at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships held Saturday, here on the campus of the University of Southern Indiana.

Adams State College senior Rueben Mwei (Kapsabet, Kenya) lead the way for the Grizzlies as he became the first individual champion for Adams State since 2003 when Celedonio Rodriguez won the men’s title.  A furious kick down the final straightaway netted him his first cross country and second overall individual national title.

Mwei, who had won the 3,000-meter steeplechase title during the 2009 outdoor track and field season, finished the 10-kilometer course in 30 minutes, 27.8 seconds defeating Harding (Ark.) sophomore Daniel Kirwa by four tenths of a second.

In the process, the Grizzlies put three runners in the top six and five in the top 11 as they dominated the rest of the field with a team score of just 23 points, the lowest at any NCAA Division I, II or III National Championship since 1992 when the then ASC Indians made collegiate cross country history that has not been repeated when they “perfect-scored” their first NCAA Division II and 13th overall national championship win in Slippery Rock, Pa.

The Grizzlies have now won back-to-back and seven total NCAA Division II crowns as they matched arch-rival Western State for the most in the division’s history.  ASC’s 19 total titles, 12 of which came at the NAIA level, are the most of any college at any level in the country.

The Mountaineers finished second on Saturday with 86 total points despite the fact that all five Grizzly scorers finished ahead of their No. 1 man— senior Iain Donnan.

The Grizzlies, who had five of the top eight team scorers, were so dominant that they would have defeated the other 23 teams in the meet by a 23-42 margin if those squads could have joined forces.  All seven ASC runners earned U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America honors that went to the top 40 individual finishers.

On the women’s side, freshman Alicia Nelson finished in ninth place and seventh amongst team scorers to lead the Grizzlies to their seventh straight and 15th NCAA Division II title in 18 seasons since moving up from the NAIA ranks, where they also won three crowns.