Louisville, Ky. – Perennial power North Central College won its 17th NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country National Championship today with a score of 60, finishing ahead of runner up SUNY Geneseo with a score of 204 and third place University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a score of 209. The Championship was run under mostly cloudy skies, windy conditions and 40 degree temperatures on the course at E.P “Tom” Sawyer State Park.
RELATED: Results | Championship reactions
Ian LaMere from University of Wisconsin-Platteville won the men’s individual title with a time of 23:40.4. Ernie Pitone from Widener University finished second at 24:09.0, with Tim Nichols from Tufts University finishing third at 24:09.7 and Isaac Garcia-Cassani from SUNY Geneseo finishing fourth at 24:18.0.
LaMere also won the 2015 NCAA Men’s Division III Cross Country National Championship men’s individual cross country title and won the NCAA 10,000 meters in track and field.
The Cardinals were led to the team title by Zach Plank who finished in sixth place, followed by teammates Al Baldonado (10th place), Dhruvil Patel (13th place), Ethan Adlfinger (14th place) and Zach Hird (17th place).
The event was co-hosted by the Louisville Sports Commission and Spalding University.
Cross country events were first held at Sawyer State Park in the 1980s. The course was redesigned in 2003 and since that time, the park has hosted 16 NCAA and NAIA national championships, along with numerous NCAA and NAIA regionals, and Division I and Division II conference championships. For the past 17 years, the Louisville Sports Commission has staged the Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic, annually one of the largest collegiate meets in the US. Every year in the fall, the course is the site of numerous high school, middle and elementary school cross country events.
