Results

Elsah, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country team placed second at the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships Saturday morning at the Principia College North Farm Cross Country Course.  The Eagles finished with 196 team points while North Central College (Ill.) won the national title with 57 points. 

UWL, making its 32nd appearance in the NCAA III Championships, recorded its 26th top-six finish in school history Saturday.  It is the Eagles' fourth second-place finish in school history (1986, 1987, 1993, 2017). UWL has won three NCAA Division III titles (1996, 2001, 2005) and recorded 13 finishes in the top-three. UWL placed sixth last season.
 
Chirstopher Newport University (Va.) placed third Saturday (221 points) while Amherst College (Mass.) was fourth (251), and Washington University (Mo.) fifth (269).  Pomona-Pitzer College (Calif.) placed sixth (282), with UW-Eau Claire seventh (283), Haverford College (Pa.) eighth (295), Loras College (Iowa) ninth (301, and Carleton College (Minn.) 10th (308).  A total of 32 teams competed. 

 
Josh Schraeder was UWL's top finisher Saturday, placing 20th overall with a time of 24:44.02 on the 8,000-meter course.  The Eagles' Thomas Schultz finished 29th (24:49.42) while Ian Ewers placed 52nd and Jonah Weisse ran 58th (25:09.98).
 
UWL's Sam Hinz finished 118th (25:35.91), with Tyler Nault 149th (25:45.80), and Austin Zajkowski 271st (27:24.09). 

"We needed a big day from the men to achieve our goal of winning a national championship," said UWL head coach Derek Stanley.  "Credit to North Central College for winning the championship.  They executed a great race with a superior team.  We needed them to falter to have a chance.  They did not and we didn't have our best day, but it was good enough."
 
Schraeder and Schultz earned All-America honors Saturday, the first honor for each.  Schultz placed 67th in last year's NCAA III Championships, while Schraeder was 119th a year ago. 
 
Weisse made his fourth career appearance in the national meet after finishing 33rd in 2014, 42nd in 2015 and 133rd in 2016. He earned NCAA III All-America honors in 2014.  
 

Ewers, Zajkowski and Hinz made their third career NCAA III Championships appearance. Ewers finished 126th, Zajkowski 60th and Hinz 111th in 2015 while Ewers was 82nd, Zajkowski 87th and Hinz 98th in 2016. 

Nault was competing in his first NCAA III Championships.

"I am proud of the character our teams showed today in the face of adversity against tough weather, a tough course and the toughest competition," added Stanley. "We have truly special athletes who know how to compete well." 

Darin Lau of UW-Eau Claire won the individual national title Satuday (24:03.59). A total of 279 runners completed the race.

UWL has had 12 top-10 individual finishes in school history at the NCAA III Championships.  Brett Altergott captured the national title in 1997 and was eighth in 1996.  Jim Bachelor placed second in 1986 and third in 1987 while Mike Junig was fourth in 1987.

Other top-10 finishes include: Mahdi Omar (fourth) in 1993; Brad Wilson (seventh) in 1996 and 1997 (fourth); Dan Peso (sixth) in 1999; Tyler Foos (third) and Ross Substad (seventh) in 2001 and Paul Zdroik (fifth) in 2007.