By: Scott Rodilitz

Depth, a kick, and a tiebreaker were the stories of the day on the men’s side, but on a muddy day like today, you will find that every team has a story to tell.

 

Individual Race

 

Pre-race favorite Grant Wintheiser of St. Olaf came through with a strong final kilometer to snag the individual title after back-to-back third place finishes. Though he faced a game challenge in the final mile from eventual runner-up Colin Cotton of Williams, Wintheiser never looked in danger of losing contact and took care of business to win comfortably in a time of 23:44.

 

After Cotton, Josh Thorson of UW-Eau Claire, Spencer Wenck of MIT, and Ian LaMere of UW-Platteville rounded out a surprising top five. Cotton and Wenck both peaked very well coming out of the New England region, while Thorson and LaMere clearly saved a bit of energy at the Midwest regional meet before spending it all today.

 

Team Race

 

As expected, North Central and St. Olaf battled it out again this year, and once again the results were in doubt until the very end. St. Olaf’s top five could not rekindle the magic from last year, and even though Wintheiser was able to bring home the individual title, the Oles came up 13 points shy of the trophy they really wanted.  A tough race for the stalwart Jake Brown hurt them, but the lack of a dependable sixth man was really what torpedoed their chances. Every team had someone struggle in the treacherously muddy conditions. The teams that found success were those with depth, and in that regard, no one could contend with North Central.

 

Though the Cardinals had two in the top twelve, they won the race on the backs of a solid—though not spectacular—three to five pack. Early season team leader Troy Kelleher struggled relative to his usual lofty performances, but he managed to come through with a top fifty finish that kept his team in the hunt. Having the fastest fifth man of any team by over 25 places sealed a narrow victory for the Cardinals, 130 to 143.

 

The battle for the two remaining podium spots was even fiercer than expected. The Colby Mules got a solid race from fifth man Ben Lester and were only four points behind the third-place UW-La Crosse Eagles (188 to 192), but Colby ended up off the podium after losing the tiebreaker to Wash U, who also finished with 192 points. Led by top fifteen finishers Colin Cotton and Bijan Mazaheri, Williams finished a competitive sixth with 214 points. Meanwhile, both MIT and UW-Eau Claire put three in the top 25, but due to fourth and fifth man struggles they ended up losing to teams that they had beaten the week prior.

 

Regional Breakdown

 

Midwest

 

After the dust had settled, the Midwest again came out looking strong. They placed three teams on the podium, including the national champion North Central Cardinals. A rough outing for UW-Stout hurts their case for deserving additional at-large teams this year, though. Individually, they had 13 All-Americans including six of the top ten finishers.

 

Biggest Surprise: Darin Lau, UW-Eau Claire. The freshman was 29th at regionals and 31st at nationals.

 

New England

 

Though New England again failed to put a team on the podium—this time by the slimmest of possible margins—they acquitted themselves quite well. Four of the top ten slots belonged to New England squads, and the sixth place regional team, Tufts, finished ahead of six automatically qualifying teams. Led by national runner-up Colin Cotton, the region had eight All-Americans.

 

Biggest Surprise: Six of the region’s eight All-Americans will return next year.

 

Central

 

Carried mostly by St. Olaf, the region had five All-Americans including the national champion as well as the runner-up Oles. Tough days for Loras and St. Thomas put a damper on the region’s three at-large bids, but Carleton and Central outperformed expectations.

 

Biggest Surprise: Paul Escher of St. Olaf. With the team title on the line, Escher did all he could with a 14th place overall finish.

 

Mideast

 

Regional champs Carnegie Mellon and Charlie Marquardt of Haverford did not run as well as expected, but the region still performed about as expected on the whole. The region had three All-Americans, none of whom finished higher than seventh at the regional meet, and the near reversal of fortunes from the five qualifying teams showed the region deserved all of its at-large bids.

 

Biggest Surpise: Dickinson. The fifth place team at the regional meet was first from the Mideast today, and they shockingly put two in the top 35.

 

Atlantic

 

As expected, it was a bit of a down year for the region, especially on the individual side. Regional champ Matt Gianino of RIT got the last All-American spot, and Nick Marcantonio of Cortland finished 23rd for the third straight year, but the region only got one other All-American slot. St. Lawrence cracked the top ten but their pack was underwhelming, and Geneseo did not have their best day. Cortland’s nineteenth place finish should give the region a bit more credibility for at-large selections next year, however.

 

Biggest Surprise: Ben Fazio, RPI. The sophomore was only ninth at the regional meet but was an All-American a week later.

 

West

 

The five-college consortium asserted themselves reasonably well, as Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps both significantly outperformed expectations with 15^th and 17^th place finishes, respectively. Both John Guzman of Occidental and Zorg Loustalet of CMS finished in the top 35, though both slipped a few spots from last year.

 

Biggest Surprise: Pomona-Pitzer. Ranked 27^th coming in, the Sagehens showed that the West Region has some credible depth despite having by far the fewest number of DIII schools.

 

Great Lakes

 

Not much was expected from the region, especially given that Calvin is going through a rebuilding phase, and none of the four qualifying teams did anything to turn heads. Wabash’s pack was too far back to put them in contention for a top ten finish, while Mt. Union’s 1-2 punch was weaker than usual.

 

Biggest Surprise: Geno Arthur of Oberlin took home the region’s only All-American award despite finishing third at the regional meet.

 

South

 

Coming in ranked 31st and 32^nd, the South region’s two automatic qualifying teams had a lot to prove going into the race. The Emory Eagles took down two at-large qualifying teams, while Bridgewater was only a few points away from exceeding their ranking as well. Unfortunately, the region did not have a single runner crack the top 100, so even though today was a step forward for the two teams in attendance, it is a long road to relevancy

 

Biggest Surprise: Alex Fleischhacker of Emory was eleventh at the regional meet but was the top finisher from the South this weekend.

 

There’s Always Next Year