The Aurora University Spartan men's cross country team won the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference Men's Cross Country Championship Saturday morning in Mequon, Wis. AU won the meet by 30 points led by freshman Fabian Carera who was named the 2012 NAC Freshman of the Meet.

Spartan Head Coach Ryan Chapman won the 2012 NAC Coach of the Year as his Spartans captured AU's second conference chamnpionship in school history.

Cabrera finished third in the meet with an AU freshman record time of 26:47.30 with Brandon Miller (seventh - 27:06.71), Drew Schmitt (eighth - 27:13.04) and Jordan Tripp (11th - 27:17.44) finishing in the top 14 at the meet to earn NAC All-Conference honors.

The Spartans had 13 of the 27 AU runners finish in the top 50 on the day. Grady Schroeder (16th - 27:23.42) and Calvin Robinson (18th - 27:26.70) earned NAC Honorable Mention All-Conference honors while Nick Quiroz (30th - 28:03.22), Nick Cole (35th - 28:22.76), Nate Rehkopf (36th - 28:24.99), Doug Belling (41st - 28:40.99), Gonzo Gonzalez (42nd - 28:41.91), Sean Leaf (48th - 28:59.26) and Kevin Crozier (50th - 29:04.15) had good showings.

The remaining Spartan performers on the day included Morgan Goetschel (52nd - 29:09.68), Alex Mertes (54th - 29:18.22), Aron Nava (55th - 29:23.91), Pete Jaros (57th - 29:27.26), Kyle Kayzar (58th - 29:29.82), Cody McSorely (62nd - 29:34.76), Mitch Fox (68th - 29:59.94), Vontrell Hawkins (76th - 30:23.95), Nico Gonzalez (77th - 30:25.25), Dale Bolthouse (90th - 31:24.74), Michael Miller (96th - 31:48.43), Kevin Price (103rd - 33:17.89), Matt Sanders (109th - 34:22.59) and Juan Mercado (115th - 36:21.18).

Next action for the Spartan men's cross country team comes on Saturday, November 10 at the 2012 NCAA Division III Regional Meet. Meet time is set for 11:00 a.m. at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh with the meet taking place at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis.