The Lenoir-Rhyne Cross Country Teams returned to the trails after the 2020 Championships were canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The 2021 season was well worth the wait. The season saw the women ranked for the first time ever, some of the program's best finishes and then finished with an All-American. Let's look back at the 2021 season.
 
Opening Season Win- The Women opened the 2021 season with a win at the Fleet Feet Invite. The Bears won the eleven-team field to open their campaign. Janet Kwanbai finished first while the Bears had four runners in the top of seven.
 
Back to Back Wins- After the win at the Fleet Feet, the women traveled to Spartanburg, S.C. for a 23 team regional preview, which the Bears won to make back-to-back wins to start the season.
 
Trip to Illinois-For the first time in program history, both teams traveled to Illinois for the Lewis Crossover for a star-studded event with numerous nationally ranked teams on both sides. The women finished 9^th while the men finished 24^th. Kwanbai finished seventh overall out of 258 runners.
 
Women Nationally Ranked- After returning home from the trip, the women saw themselves nationally ranked for the first time in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association coaches poll. The Bears came in 29^th in the poll with 18 votes.
 
Women Finish Third at SAC Championship- For the third straight Championship, the women finished third. All five runners finished in the top 30 for the Bears.
 
Freshman Lead the Men- Four freshmen led the Bears at the SAC Championship- Jacob Parkinson, Lewis Budgen, Harrison Hickman, Noah Julian - all finished in the top 40 while the Bears finished sixth in the Championship.
 
Southeast Regional- The Women's team finished a program-best fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional just missing a team bid to the NCAA Championship.
 
All-American!-Janet Kwanbi became just the second All-American in program history with her 27^th place finish at the NCAA Championship in Tampa, Florida. Kwanbi finished with a time of 21.77.7 to earn her first All-American Status.