MASON CITY – NIACC sophomore Mason Powers has signed a national letter of intent to run cross country and track and field at Southern Arkansas University, a NCAA Division II school located in Magnolia, Ark.
Powers (Gilbert, Ia.) led the NIACC cross country team to a 15th place finish at the NJCAA national meet in 2013 with a 49th place finish. Powers was 119th at the 2012 national cross country meet.
Powers said he visited Southern Arkansas University over spring break.
“The people there were really genuine,” Powers said. “Everything was awesome about it.”
Powers said being so far away from home won’t be an issue for him.
“I had to think about it at first,” he said, “but everything is going to be OK. There’s this invention called an airplane that I can hop on if I need to come back home.”
Powers said that his two years at NIACC prepared him to run at the NCAA Division II level.
“Coach (Curtis) Vais put me in this position to continue running. He really developed me.”
Southern Arkansas University is a member of the Great American Conference, which includes University of Arkansas-Monticello, Arkansas Tech, East Central University, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Southern Nazarene University.
