LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Washington State men's cross country team placed 26 out of 31 teams at the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships Saturday at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Ky.
Michael Williams, a sophomore from Richland, Wash., was the first Cougar to cross the finish line, at 57th overall, 45th in the team scoring format, running the 10,000-meters course in a time of 30 minutes, 39.5 seconds. John Whelan, a junior from Etna, Calif., finished 113th/91st in a time of 31:05.6. The other WSU men scoring were: Sam Levora, a sophomore from Sandpoint, Idaho, finished 151st/120th (31:27.9), Nathan Wadhwani, a freshman from Maple Ridge, British Columbia, finished 174th/141st (31:38.5), and Chandler Teigen, a freshman from Anatone, Wash., finished 183rd/150th (31:46.7). Cougars also racing Saturday included: Nathan Tadesse, a freshman from Surrey, British Columbia, finished 193rd/158th (31:55.3), and Jake Finney, a freshman from Post Falls, Idaho, 223rd/186th (32:26.6). All the Cougars ran improved 10k times from the NCAA West Regionals meet Nov. 13 in Seattle.
Oregon's Edward Cheserek easily won the men's race for a record-setting third consecutive time, finishing in a time of 28:45.8. Cheserek joins legends Steve Prefontaine (1970-71, 73) of Oregon, and former Washington State greats Gerry Lindgren (1966-67, 69) and Henry Rono (1976-77, 79) as the only runners to win three NCAA titles.
The No. 2 Syracuse men won the team title with 82 points, followed by Pac-12 team champions No. 1 Colorado with 91. No. 3 Stanford was third with 151 points and No. 9 Oregon fourth with 183 points. Other Pac-12 schools and their places were: No. 11 Washington eighth (345), No. 28 UCLA 14th (429), No. 27 California 23rd (524), and No. 25 WSU 26th (547).
“We had a great season and just couldn't quite finish it off we way wanted,” WSU Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Wayne Phipps said. “To be 26th in the nation, and then return everyone including only one junior shows we have a very bright future. Michael Williams fell early on and moved up from 200th to 57th which was very impressive. Our guys won't make any excuses but we had a pretty rough trip to get here. We left campus at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday and arrived at our hotel at 10 a.m. the next morning, after having to spend the night in the Atlanta airport. No excuses, but it probably wasn't the ideal pre-race preparation. Overall, I'm very proud of this group and very excited about their future.”
