Drew Donahue was the first Panther across the finish line.
The Middlebury men's cross country team competed in the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning hosted by Spaulding University and the Louisville Sports Commission. The Panthers placed 13th overall with 401 points in the 32-team race contested at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
Middlebury's top performer was
Drew Donahue, who covered the 8K course with a time of 24:24.0, good for 42nd place overall in a field of 289 racers. Also cracking the top 100 was
Max Cluss in the 72nd spot with a clocking of 24:38.3, followed by
Alexander Kessler in 117th overall (24:57.5). Next up for the Panthers was
Quinlan McGaugh in 133rd (25:01.1), followed by
Luke Lorenz, who placed 166th (25:10.5). Rounding out the squad were
Ziggy Goddard (190th-25:25.4) and
Alec Gironda (211th-25:37.4).
Pomona-Pitzer won the NCAA men's championship with 80 points, followed by MIT (112) and Williams (167). Taking home the individual title was Alex Phillip of John Carroll, who claimed a time of 23:27.6.
The Panthers were making their 11th-straight appearance at the NCAA Championships. Middlebury entered the national meet on the heels of back-to-back runner-up team efforts at the NESCAC and NCAA Mideast Regional Championships.
