ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. -- The UW-Superior men's cross country team won its second consecutive and fifth Upper Midwest Athletic Conference cross country championship at the Crown Cross Country Course on Saturday.
 
The Yellowjackets and Martin Luther tied in the team standings at 50 points each with UWS winning three head-to-head comparisons of the top-five runners from each school to break the tie and come out on top. 
 
Superior also won the men's title in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
 
Junior Kieran Johnson (South Range, Wis./Northwestern) clinched the title for UWS with a 14th-place finish in 29:43, narrowly beating Martin Luther's Elijah Hutchinson by six tenths of the second to win the third head-to-head comparison.
 
Sophomore Michael Butterfield (Bovey, Minn./Greenway) finished second overall to lead the 'Jackets with a time of 27:20.3 on the eight-kilometer course. Classmate Aidan Doherty (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) ran 10th in 29:10.1, while fellow sophomore Zach Reese (Zimmerman, Minn./Spectrum) was 11th in 29:23.9.
 
Junior David Collins (Ironwood, Mich./Luther L. Wright) was 13th in 29:36.7, followed by Johnson.  
 
Junior Kei Okamoto (Nagoya, Japan/Reitaku Mizunami) was 16th in 29:51.5, with freshman Carson Shane (West Allis, Wis./Nathan Hale) clocking in at 31:35.8 for 28th place. 
 
Senior Mitchell Hammer (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis./Lincoln) was 30th in 32:04.4, while freshman Hendrick Hicks (Duluth, Minn./Proctor) and junior Kevin Hufziger (Macedon, N.Y./Penfield) ran 39th and 43rd in 34:13 and 35:01.8, respectively.
 
Jeremiah Van Acker of Crown won the individual title in a time of 27:05.6. Minnesota Morris was third overall in the team standings with 57 points, followed by Bethany Lutheran (86), Crown (155), Northland (169), North Central (175) and Northwestern (179).
 
The Yellowjackets are back in action in two weeks at the 2022 NCAA Division III North Region Championships, hosted by St. Olaf on Nov. 12. Start time is set for 12:15 p.m.