NCAA Championships site
Men's team results
Men's individual results
Women's individual results
CLEVELAND, Ohio --- Elizabethtown College sophomore
Eric Reichert became the school's fourth men's cross country runner to earn All-America status as he finished 23rd overall at the NCAA Division III Championships at the Highland Hills Golf Course on Saturday.
Reichert covered the 8-kilometer course in 25:59.6 to join Dustin Scott (14th in 2001), Steve Sanko (27th in 2004) and Jose Miranda (31st in 2004) as Blue Jay All-Americans.
"Eric was in 45th place out of the 280 runners with 1000 meters to go. That was the last I saw him until 5-10 minutes after his race when he came running over and jumped into my arms!" said Elizabethtown head coach Chris Straub. "He was moving well as he crested the last hill with 800 meters to go. It must have been an incredible finish to close off a perfectly run race by him. He is very deserving. The timing and circumstances were such that finishing top 35 and becoming an All-American was a realistic scenario. He, like the other guys, executed his race stategy very well. As a result, Eric got the outcome he desired."
As a team, Elizabethtown placed 28th out of 32 teams with 631 points. Charlie Larsen was the Blue Jays' second finisher as he was clocked in 27:23.7 for 184th place in a field of 276 runners. Also competing were Russell Speiden (198th in 27:31.3), Myles Lund (200th in 27:32.3), Evan DeArmitt (211th in 27:41.1), Colby Miller (212th in 27:42.4) and Chris Heisey (242nd in 28:00.7).
Elizabethtown entered the championships ranked 31st in the latest US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll, and fielded a team of five sophomores, one junior and one senior in the championship race. It was the fifth time in the last 11 years that the Blue Jays competed as a team at nationals, a run of success that including a 14th-place finish in 2001 and 15th-place finishes in 2002 and 2004.
"I was really pleased with the way in which the men raced at nationals," said Straub. "They showed a lot of poise in their race and we achieved the outcome we expected. With recent injuries to our #2 (
Colby Miller) and #3 (
Myles Lund), we had to re-frame our goals a bit from late October."
In the women's race, Blue Jay senior
Megan VanDenHengel placed 101st overall with a time of 23:38.8 in a field of 279 runners.
"Coach Falk and I were quite pleased with Megan's race as well," commented Straub. "Although she never really found a lot of open running lanes and wasn't able to settle into any kind of rhythm, she kept racing the whole way and showed her trademark tenacity and perseverance."
North Central College won the men's team championship by placing all seven of its runners in the top 35, scoring 50 points to finish well ahead of runner-up Williams College (181 points). Ricky Flynn of Lynchburg College won the men's individual championship with a time of 25:09.8, nearly 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Michael Spain of North Central.
"We don't talk a lot about outcomes, but in a meeting Friday night I did discuss what I felt a realistic finish would be given our present circumstances," said Straub. "Even though we were ranked 31st, I felt 29th out of the 32 teams was a realistic outcome if they executed the race strategy we had agreed upon. We finished 28th in large part because the guys trusted me, each other, and themselves to go out and craft their races in a way that would allow us to beat a few other national-caliber teams. This is a young, but very coachable group who are very much focused on the team aspect of cross country."
The women's team championship was won by Wisconsin-Eau Claire, which totaled 1712 points to edge St. Lawrence University (180 points) for the team crown. St. Lawrence's Wendy Pavlus was the individual champion as her time of 21:28.0 was just under 18 seconds better than runner-up Marie Borner of Bethel College.
"Having the entire men's and women's cross country teams drive out to Cleveland to show their support was an incredible display of unity, team, and school pride. The seven men and Megan really fed off their positive energy," Straub noted. "The whole nationals trip was a great moment in our men's and women's program history. It was a wonderful way to cap off what has been an exciting and memorable season and set us up for continued successes in the coming months and years."
NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships
at Cleveland, Ohio
Men's team results
USTFCCCA
Pre- Pre-
Season NCAA
Place/School Pts Region Rank Rank
1. North Central (IL) 50 MW 1st 1st
2. Williams (MA) 181 NE 4th 6th
3. Allegheny (PA) 195 ME 6th 5th
4. New York University 224 AT 14th 7th
5. SUNY Cortland 232 AT 3rd 2nd
6. SUNY Geneseo 271 AT 5th 4th
7. Washington Univ. (MO) 285 MW NR 10th
8. Haverford (PA) 333 MW 24th 9th
9. Wisconsin Platteville 345 MW 8th 14th
10.Wisconsin LaCrosse 373 MW 2nd 3rd
11.St. Lawrence (NY) 375 AT 20th 24th
12.Carnegie Mellon (PA) 379 ME 23rd 8th
13.Calvin (MI) 385 GL 7th 15th
14.Emory (GA) 402 SE 18th 11th
15.Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CA) 425 W 30th 12th
16.Wisconsin Eau Claire 439 MW 31st 20th
17.Amherst (MA) 454 NE 10th 16th
18.Heidelberg (OH) 462 GL 12th 21st
19.St. Thomas (MN) 466 C NR 18th
20.Williamette (OR) 476 W 24th 17th
21.St. Olaf (MN) 477 C 32nd 24th
22.Dickinson (PA) 485 ME 9th 13th
23.Hamline (IA) 496 C NR 28th
24.Brandeis (MA) 536 NE 13th 26th
25.Colorado College 557 W NR 30th
26.Manchester (IN) 570 GL NR 27th
27.Nebraska Wesleyan 609 C 16th 19th
28.Elizabethtown (PA) 631 ME NR 29th
29.Keene State (NH) 644 NE NR 22nd
30.Lynchburg (VA) 679 SE NR 34th
31.Rochester Inst. of Tech. (NY)685 AT NR 23rd
32.Mount Union (OH) 813 GL 21st 32nd
Elizabethtown finishers: 23.
Eric Reichert 25:59.6; 184.
Charlie Larsen 27:23.7; 198.
Russell Speiden 27:31.3; 200.
Myles Lund 27:32.3; 211.
Evan DeArmitt 27:41.1; 212.
Colby Miller 27:42.4; 242.
Chris Heisey 28:00.7.
Women's team standings: 1. Wisconsin-Eau Claire 171; 2. St. Lawrence 180; 3. Calvin 195; 4. Middlebury 244; 5. MIT 254.
Elizabethtown finisher: 101.
Megan VanDenHengel 23:38.8.