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Results
WINNECONE, Wis. (Nov. 21, 2015) - The dreams of a fifth national title in seven years did not come to pass for the North Central College men's cross country team on Saturday, as the Cardinals placed fifth in the NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championship at Lake Breeze Golf Course after an early-race collision dealt some members of the squad some additional challenges.
North Central finished with a total of 254 points. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, ranked No. 1 in the nation entering the meet, won the national championship with 135 points, followed by Williams College (Massachusetts) with 144, the State University of New York at Geneseo with 209 and St. Olaf College (Minnesota) with 211.
As the field of 280 competitors began to narrow roughly 250 meters after the start, the Cardinals, who were positioned near the middle of the starting line, were faced by converging traffic on both sides. Several North Central athletes were impeded as some other runners fell to the turf, forcing them to play catch-up the rest of the way.
"That certainly put us back," said North Central head coach Al Carius. "But that's part of the race. It's cross country, it's tough competition and you've got to try and keep yourself out of harm's way. It certainly did interfere with the flow of the race, but it's no excuse."
Cardinal junior Zach Plank was able to avoid the pileup and moved quickly to the front of the field, joining a pack of more than a dozen athletes giving chase to race leader Ian LaMere of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. LaMere led from start to finish, touring the 8,000-meter (five-mile) course in 23 minutes, 35.4 seconds to finish nearly 40 seconds ahead of his closest opposition.
Plank hung tough with the leaders and went on to place fourth overall, hitting the finish line in 24:26.9 and becoming the 69th North Central runner to earn All-America honors.
"I just put myself in the position where I wanted to be, with a group that was going to run fast," Plank said. "I knew I belonged there, so I just put myself in the mix."
Plank's finish concluded a season which saw him claim individual championships at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Championships and the Gold Division at the prestigious Notre Dame Invitational, as well as a second-place showing in last weekend's Midwest Region Championship.
"The biggest key for me was my summer training," Plank said of his recent success. "In addition to my running, I also had two jobs, so that kept me really focused. I've also had a lot of guys to look up to the last three years that I've been here. That has really carried me to being what I've become.
"I've looked back on the history of this program and I have told myself how badly I want to be part of that, and I want this team to be a part of that history. You think about that every day and it just carries you to something that's bigger than yourself."
The Cardinals' next three finishers were freshmen, as Al Baldonado finished in 25:18.5 to place 65th, Dhruvil Patel came in 77th (25:24.1) and Zach Hird placed 96th (25:30.9). Ethan Adlfinger completed North Central's scoring by placing 99th (25:31.2), followed by Ken Hoffman in 104th (25:33.0) and Aron Sebhat in 190th (25:59.1).
"I'm proud of our guys," Carius said. "Primarily, we're a group of young guys. Experience helps you, so we got a lot of good experience for the future today with some young guys who are going to be very, very good.
"I'm proud of what these guys have accomplished since the beginning of the year to get to this point. I'm sure for the young guys coming back, it'll be a real incentive to get ready for next year."
