No. 25 Men's Cross Country posts second best team finish in school history at NCAA III Championships
By Caleb Scott
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The No. 25-ranked Ohio Northern men's cross country team finished 14th of 32 teams, and posted its second best team finish in school history at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at the Tom Sawyer State Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Polar Bears (114-20 overall) finished first among all Great Lakes Region teams represented at the meet.
Sophomore Ian McVey (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) ran a career-best time as he led the Polar Bears across the finish line in 24:57.5, and finished 36th place overall, narrowly missing All-America honors.
"The course was fairly flat and fast," said McVey. "Coach Maus did a really good job of preparing us and getting us ready for this type of meet. He kept us excited and really showed us what was expected at this meet."
Senior Andrew Harden (Vandalia/Vandalia-Butler) finished second for Northern and 65th overall, as he finished in a career-fastest time of 25:13.8.
Also posting a top-75 finish for ONU was senior Kase Schalois (Van Wert/Van Wert), who finished 73rd overall and ran a career-best 25:16.1.
Junior Bobby Borger (Perrysburg/Perrysburg) finished fourth for Northern and 151st overall as he finished in 25:43.6.
Also placing for the Polar Bears was junior Samuel Boyd (Killbuck/West Holmes), who finished 209th in a career-best 26:12.6, sophomore Spencer Schulze (Killbuck/West Holmes), who finished 229th in 26:24.1 and senior Cully Gordon (Holmesville/West Holmes), who finished 244th in 26:38.2.
"What a great team race," said head coach Jason Maus. "For the way that all the things came together for us this season this was a great way to cap off the year. To outperform our ranking and finish in the top-15 is huge for this team. All seven of our guys ran well today and we are just super proud of this team."
Team Standings
1. #1 North Central (Ill.) 60, 2. #2 SUNY Geneseo 204, 3. #4 Wis.-Eau Claire 209, 4. #10 Washington (Mo.) 216, 5. #7 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Cal.) 251, 6. #6 Wis.-La Crosse 295, 7. #3 MIT 301, 8. #13 Johns Hopkins (Md.) 316, 9. #5 Williams (Mass.) 330, 10. #12 Loras (Iowa) 352, 11. #23 Christopher Newport (Va.) 356, 12. #8 Amherst (Mass.) 362, 13. #9 RPI (N.Y.) 369, 14. #25 Ohio Northern 374, 15. #22 St. Olaf (Minn.) 384, 16. #19 Allegheny (Pa.) 386, 17. #20 Pomona-Pitzer (Cal.) 431, 18. #14 Haverford (Conn.) 459, 19. #11 Calvin (Mich.) 468, 20. #18 Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) 480, 21. #17 Wartburg (Iowa) 486, 22. #26 Oneonta (N.Y.) 504, 23. #28 Whittier (Cal.) 561, 24. #30 Emory (Ga.) 565, 25. #29 St. Lawrence (N.Y.) 593, 26. #15 Middlebury (Vt.) 602, 27. #27 Washington and Lee (Va.) 640, 28. #31 Mount Union 665, 29. #32 Rhodes (Tenn.) 698, 30. #21 New Jersey 709, 31. #16 Occidental (Cal.) 774, 32. #24 New York U. 819
Top 5 Individuals
1. Ian LaMere (Wis.-Plateville) 23:40.4, 2. Ernie Pitone (Widener) 24:09.0, 3. Tim Nichols (Tufts) 24:09.7, 4. Isaac Garcia-Cassani (SUNY Geneseo) 24:18.0, 5. Dan Cheung (Allegheny) 24:18.9
Ohio Northern Individual Results
36. Ian McVey 24:57.5, 65. Andrew Harden 25:13.8, 73. Kase Schalois 25:16.1, 151. Bobby Borger 25:43.6, 209. Samuel Boyd 26:12.6, 229. Spencer Schulze 26:24.1, 244. Cully Gordon 26:38.2
