Isaiah Thomas (Philadelphia, Pa. / Bensalem) led a team of all freshman runners and earned All-conference honors in the process as the Lincoln University men' cross country team  raced to a fourth place finish at the 2017 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Championship Meet Thursday morning at Green Hill Park in Roanoke County, Virginia.

Thomas finished fourth overall in the race with a personal-best time of 28:44.9 on the 8,000-meter course to earn his All-CIAA status.  Mike Lagat, a freshman from Shaw University won the men's overall title with a time of 27:37.0.

The Lions placed all of their top five scorers in the top 40 overall and finished with 109 points.  Lincoln was narrowly edged out of a spot on the podium by St. Augustine's University who placed third with 103 points.  Virginia State University won the team title with 39 points, placing all five scorers in the top 12 overall.  Defending CIAA champion, Virginia Union University was second with 84 points.
The fourth place finish by Thomas was the best finish at the conference championship race by a Lions runner since Kyle Edwards placed second overall at the 2014 meet – also the last time a Lincoln men's runner earned All-CIAA honors.  The team's fourth place finish equals their best ever placing at the championship meet, a fourth place finish by the 2013 squad.

Tyreke Thompson (Capitol Heights, Md./Fairmont Heights) and Nicolas Deleon (Upper Marlboro, Md./C.H. Flowers) were the next two Lions runners to finish, crossing the line in 18^th and 19^th place respectively.  Thompson finished in 30:24.8 while Deleon finished in 30:26.6.  both times were personal-best performances.

Lamar McMillan (Mitchellville, Md. / C.H. Flowers) and Nathan Heaven (Fort Lauderdale, Fla. / Munro College, Jamaica) rounded out the Lions top five scorers with McMillan finishing 28^th  overall and Heaven 40^th.   McMillan  finished the course with a personal best time of 31:11.9 while Heaven also shaved a few seconds off his previous personal-best crossing the finish line in 32:31.9.

Chris Bonds-Minter (Newark, N.J. / North Star Academy College Prep) was right behind Heaven in 41^st place finishing the race in 32:36.5.  Terrell Wallace (Upper Darby, Pa. / Upper Darby) rounded out the Lions competitors, finishing 51^st overall with a time of 34:04.0

The race concludes the cross country season for the Lincoln men's squad.