TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –  The 2022 Cross Country National Championships were held Friday, November 18, 2022, at the Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Florida. The top forty finishers are bestowed All-American Honors. This is the forty-third year the national championships have taken place.

If there is a story about never giving up on your goals, then Bethel senior cross country runner Andrea De La Rosa has quite the story to tell.

Andrea De La Rosa went into the race after last year just narrowing escaping All-American with a finish of forty-first place and finishing just a couple seconds within her goal. De La Rosa told head coach Brandon Kilburn at the time that she would not feel the same feeling that she felt that day the next year. Staying true to her word and many countless miles later, Andrea De La Rosa, the Mid-South Conference champion, emerged from Friday’s race the first All-American in the history of Bethel Cross Country.

Andrea De La Rosa finished 40^th out of three hundred and twenty-six runners with a time of 18:12 in the championship race.

Coach Brandon Kilburn spoke about Andrea. “I am extremely proud of Andrea. From day one she has been one of the hardest working athletes I have ever coached in my tenure at Bethel. Today she becomes the first All-American in Bethel Cross Country history, and I cannot think of someone more deserving than her. Since last year, we have been putting the pieces together to make sure she was prepared for this moment. Andrea stepped up to the challenge, took it head on, and now she is etched in the history of Bethel University. It is bittersweet knowing that this was her last cross-country race, but I could not think of a better way to end it. Andrea has a bright future ahead of her and I cannot wait to see how she impacts others.”

Congratulations to Andrea and go Wildcats!