Men's Preview
Eight-Kilometer Championship Preview
The stage is set for an unpredictable battle to win the men's 2008 NCAA III championships on Hanover College's eight-kilometer course.
Men's Championship Results - FinishTiming Results Here
Women's Championship Results - FinishTiming Results Here
Championship Race Program Supplement (PDF)
NCAA III Cross Country Championship Field Announcement
USTFCCCA Men's Awards / USTFCCCA Women's Awards
The top two teams in the nation are positioned to go head-to-head for the first time this season. The defending national champions earned the opportunity to defend their title. The field is loaded with challengers from the nation's top programs.
Top-ranked Cortland State University (N.Y.) seeks its first men's cross country title. The Red Dragons placed four runners in the top 14 slots to win the Atlantic Regional last weekend. Senior Josh Henry led the squad with a third-place finish in 25:46.5 Senior Seamus Nally finished fifth in the regional. Junior Seth Dubois was sixth in that race and only 1.4 seconds separated the trio.
North Central College (Ill.) is the most-decorated program in NCAA III history. The Cardinals, ranked second in the nation, have won 12 nationals crowns, but have not hoisted the top trophy since 1999.
North Central won the Midwest Regional last week with seven runners finishing in the top 25. The Cardinals return four of their top five runners from last year's 16th-place national finish. Only 7.2 seconds separated North Central's top five runners in that meet.
New York University, ranked seventh in the country, advanced to the national race with a second-place finish in the Atlantic Regional. The Violets placed two runners in the top 10 spots and all five in the first 26 positions to earn a chance to repeat as champions. Senior Jesse Schneider led New York with a second-place finish in 25:32.9. Schneider was 21st in the nation last year.
Perennial-power Calvin College (Mich.) will strive for its fifth NCAA title this decade. The Knights have won the championship in 2006, 2005, 2003 and 2000, with the 2003 crown coming on this course. Ranked fourth in the nation, Calvin is led by five seniors. The Knights, behind a 1-2 punch of Jed Christiansen and Erik Van Kampen, earned the Great Lakes Regional title by placing four runners in the top 10 positions.
Two-time NCAA champion Williams College (Mass.) placed three runners in the first five spots to win the New England Regional last weekend. The Ephs, which won the NCAA title in 1994 and 1995, are ranked sixth in the nation. Junior Edgar Kosgey led the group in the regional, winning in 25:52.7.
Sixteenth-ranked Centre College (Ky.) slipped past 22nd-ranked Emory University (Ga.) to win the South-Southeast Regional. Senior Chase Wilson led four Colonels in the first 11 spots, winning the meet in 25:23.
The race for the individual NCAA championship will be hotly-contested.
Hamilton College (N.Y.) junior Peter Kosgei was the only underclassman in the top seven positions in last year's championship. He placed second overall in 24:36.2. He won last weekend's Atlantic Regional by more than 14 seconds with a time of 25:18.8.
Wheaton College (Ill.) senior Brandon Mull was 10th at the NCAA finale last year and won the Midwest Regional championship with a time of 24:33.6. Bethel University (Minn.) junior Dan Greeno was 22nd at last year's NCAA meet. He was second in the Central Regional in 25:39.9 and has the top time on Hanover's course this season (25:31.32).
Veterans from the highly-ranked teams will also factor in the individual title hunt.
Cortland State's Nally placed eighth in the nation last season. Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.), ranked eighth in the country, will have senior Brian Harvey near the front of the pack. Harvey placed 12th in the nation last year and won last weekend's Mideast Regional in 25:10. The University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse junior Paul Moran led the Eagles to a second-place finish in the Midwest Regional with a third-place finish in 24:50.1.