UWL men's cross country team claims fourth NCAA Division III title

Results

Terre Haute, Ind. -

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country team captured its fourth National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship Saturday morning at LaVern Gibson Championship. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.) served as host of the championships.

The Eagles secured their fourth national title with 77 team points. UWL also captured the NCAA Division III championship in 1996, 2001 and 2005.

Wartburg College (Iowa) was second on Saturday with 173 team points while Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (Calif.) placed third with 182 and UW-Whitewater fourth with 219. New York University finished fifth (220 points) followed by SUNY Geneseo sixth (226), North Central College (Ill.) seventh (257), St. Olaf College (Minn.) eighth (265), RPI (N.Y.) ninth (266) and Williams College (Mass.) 10th (278). A total of 32 teams competed.

Four runners earned NCAA Division III All-America accolades on Saturday with all finishing in the top-20. The Eagles' was third overall, finishing with a time of 24:04.4 on the 8,000-meter course. was fifth overall (24:11.8) with 16th (24:26.7) and 20th (24:31.6).

All four runners earned their first career All-America honor. was 70th in 2022 and 63rd in 2023 while finished 171st in 2022 and 76th last year. Sullivan was making his second career appearance after finishing 59th last season while Zywicki was making his first trip to the national championships.

It is the first time in school history UWL earned four NCAA Division III All-America honors at the same championships. The Eagles have earned three individual All-America awards five different seasons (1987, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2018). UWL picked up four National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-America accolades in 1984.

UWL's was 41st (24:54.0) overall on Saturday while placed 69th (25:00.2) and 117th (25:17.7).

Loenser was 64th at last year's meet while Vater made his first career appearance on Saturday. Competing in his third career NCAA III Championships, Fairchild was 119th in 2021 and 93rd in 2022.

UW-Whitewater's Christian Patzka won the individual national title on Saturday (24:01.6). A total of 294 runners completed the race.

UWL was making its 37th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships this season. The Eagles now have 29 top-six finishes in school history at the national meet, including 16 in the top-three. Along with the four (1996, 2001, 2005, 2024) national titles, UWL was second in 2017 and 2023. The Eagles placed eighth in 2022, 10th in 2021 and seventh in 2019. UWL finished third in 2013, 2014 and 2018, fourth in 2012 and sixth in 2016.

It is the second time in school history UWL has two runners place in the top-five at the national championships with finishing third and fifth. In 1997, Brett Altergott won the national title with Brad Wilson finishing fourth.

and earned NCAA III All-America honors last season with Gregg capturing the individual national title and Wegner placing 18th overall. Gregg became the second runner in school history to win the national title, joining Brett Altergott in 1997.

UWL has 19 top-10 individual finishes in school history at the NCAA III Championships after Saturday's meet and third-place and fifth-place finish.

Gregg won the national title in 2023 after finishing fourth in 2022 and 11th in 2021. Altergott was eighth in 1996 along with winning the title in 1997. 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; Wilson (seventh) in 1996 and 1997 (fourth); Dan Peso (sixth) in 1999; Tyler Foos (third) and Ross Substad (seventh) in 2001; Paul Zdroik (fifth) in 2007, Josh Schraeder in 2018 (fourth) and 2019 (fifth) and Tyler Nault in 2019 (eighth).

UWL head coach has led the men's squad to nine (2012-13, 2017-19, 2021-24) Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships.

The Eagles have recorded top-four finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships in seven different seasons under Stanley, including this year's crown. UWL was second in 2017 and 2023. The Eagles placed eighth in 2022, third in 2013, 2014 and 2018 and fourth in 2012. UWL finished ninth in 2015, sixth in 2016 and 10th in 2021 under Stanley.

He has also led the women's team to seven (2013-14, 2016, 2021-24) WIAC titles. UWL placed sixth at the 2016 NCAA Division III Championships, the team's best finish since a fourth-place showing in 2005. The Eagles finished 13th this year after a 10th-place finish last season. UWL was 15th in 2022 and 11th in 2021 while placing 19th in 2019 and ninth at the 2018 national meet. UWL placed 12th in 2015, 13th in 2014, 19th in 2013, 25th in 2012 and 17th in 2017 under Stanley.

Stanley was an assistant men's cross country coach and assistant women's and men's track & field coach for the Eagles in 2011-12.

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