KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A record-breaking season for Chloe Helms has yielded another first for her and her program. The sophomore from Eufaula, Ala., has earned the final SSAC spot in the 2025 NAIA Cross Country Championship as an individual, the first Faulkner runner to make the national field in program history.
Helms was the fourth finisher not on the winning team at the SSAC Women's Cross Country Championships, coming in sixth place with the best postseason 6K time in program history with a 22:48.66, nearly a minute better than her then-program record time in the 2024 SSAC Championships.
It's been a season of such marks for the Lady Eagle, as she has claimed the second- and third-best 5K times and the first-, second-, third- and fifth-best 6K times in program history in six events Faulkner has run this season. Last season, she earned the fastest 5K time in program history in the Nooga at Night Invite for her to own the top three times in that category, and what was then the fastest and is now the fourth-best 6K time in the 2024 SSAC Championship for her to own the top five times there. She also owns the fifth- and sixth-best times from her freshman year.
Head coach Caleb Kilpatrick had this to say about his decorated harrier: "At the beginning of the season I asked the team to email me their goals for the season. Chloe made two things clear, she wanted to trust and lean on God to guide her in every aspect of her life and she also made it clear that she wanted to go to the national championship. Although this was her season goal, her hard work, discipline, and consistency started long before she sent that email. She continued throughout the season to trust in God while putting in relentless forward progress towards her goal. She is very much deserving of this and I couldn't be more excited for her. She has and continues to represent Faulkner, the team, and herself the way a Christian student athlete should and is a shining example of what a coach looks for."
The event is set for Friday, November 21 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla. The final site will be broadcast for free on the NAIA Channel of Urban Edge Network and the NAIA Network. The women's race will take place at 8:30 am ET/7:30 am CT. Awards will air at approximately 11 am ET/10 am CT. See the following link for schedule, broadcast links, live results and more: 2025 NAIA Cross Country Championship Schedule - NAIA
